Million-Dollar Questions | Abused Trust & Estate Beneficiaries

How many times in life do we falter because we or someone helping us fails to ask the right questions?

We’ve all heard, seen or experienced circumstances where friends or relatives suffered, maybe died, because someone responsible for their health failed to identify a safety or health problem.

They failed to ask the right questions.

I have my own experience with medical diagnosis and the right questions. Nearly 30 years ago I woke up at 3:00 in the morning with symptoms that mimicked a heart attack. My wife sprang into action, paramedics arrived, and I was soon on my way to an emergency room. Appropriate tests for heart disease and injury were accomplished. I came out well.

Maybe it was stress. We took more vacations, watched my diet and went on for a year uninterrupted. About a year later symptoms occurred again. This time at work. This time more troubling.

I forgot who some of the people around me were. I thought that I’d somehow been poisoned. I went home early. Suggested to my wife that we go to an early dinner and a movie. She suggested that we go to the emergency room. We did.

This time a different diagnosis – a different test. This time a CAT scan of my brain. And, the discovery of a tumor.

Life went on from there. Surgery, recovery and a greater appreciation for God, my family, friends and the wonder of life.

So, it helps to ask the right questions. In estate and trust litigation we work to ask the right questions. Right questions might make a difference between a million-dollar recovery in the right case and a failed effort.

The right questions include covering relationships, health, existence of alcoholism and substance abuse, signs of abuse or isolation, rushed efforts at estate plan changes and scores of additional questions appropriate to the matter at hand.

At Hackard Law we like to ask the right questions from the right people. Our clients are from across California, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, Alameda, Santa Clara, and San Diego. If you are an abused trust or estate beneficiary and you want to talk about it, call us at Hackard Law (916) 313-3030.

We’ll listen to your questions, ask some ourselves, and see how we might help you.