Unlock the synergy of diverse legal expertise as attorneys Jordan Bentley and Jane Dearwester join our McIntyre Elder Law team, bringing a unique blend of knowledge to the table. Prepare to be enlightened by Jordan's family law finesse and Jane's real estate acumen, as they reveal how these skills fortify our elder law services. In this episode, you'll discover just how our newest additions leverage their litigation experience to navigate the nuanced landscape of estate planning, asset protection, and property deeds with a deft hand.
Engage with a conversation that's as educational as it is riveting; Jane, heading our litigation division, demystifies the complex interplay between real estate law and elder care, while Jordan sheds light on the surprising ways family law informs estate matters. Together, they examine real-world scenarios—from will contests to marital interests in asset transfer—providing a panoramic view of the challenges our clients face and the innovative strategies we employ. This episode is not just a meet-and-greet; it's an invitation to peer behind the curtain of McIntyre Elder Law's expanding litigation capabilities and a testament to the power of collective experience in serving our clients' best interests.
Unlock the synergy of diverse legal expertise as attorneys Jordan Bentley and Jane Dearwester join our McIntyre Elder Law team, bringing a unique blend of knowledge to the table. Prepare to be enlightened by Jordan's family law finesse and Jane's real estate acumen, as they reveal how these skills fortify our elder law services. In this episode, you'll discover just how our newest additions leverage their litigation experience to navigate the nuanced landscape of estate planning, asset protection, and property deeds with a deft hand.
Engage with a conversation that's as educational as it is riveting; Jane, heading our litigation division, demystifies the complex interplay between real estate law and elder care, while Jordan sheds light on the surprising ways family law informs estate matters. Together, they examine real-world scenarios—from will contests to marital interests in asset transfer—providing a panoramic view of the challenges our clients face and the innovative strategies we employ. This episode is not just a meet-and-greet; it's an invitation to peer behind the curtain of McIntyre Elder Law's expanding litigation capabilities and a testament to the power of collective experience in serving our clients' best interests.
Hi, I'm Jordan Bentley, one of the attorneys here at McIntyre Elder Law and I'm sitting down today with Ms Jane Gearwester for today's Elder Law Report. Jane and I are the two newest attorneys, newest members of the McIntyre Elder Law team, and we thought it'd be a good idea idea Jane thought it'd be a good idea for us to sit down and talk a little bit about our past experience, what we bring to the table at this firm and how our legal experience and specifically our backgrounds in litigation and in the courtroom have come into play in estate planning and in elder law.
Jordan Bentley:olittle bit about what you know, your experience and background.
Jane Dearwester:Yeah, thank you, Jordan, and good morning. Yeah, I thought this was a great way both for Jordan and I to connect and get to know each other a little bit more, but also for y'all to get to know us as part of the McIntyre Elder Law team. Again, my name's Jane Dearwester.
Jane Dearwester:I've been an attorney here in Western North Carolina for the past 20 years. My experience is everything from criminal defense to transactional real estate. I used to be a closing attorney and then, after the housing crisis or during the housing crisis, I did foreclosure defense and a lot of real estate distress debt litigation. And then the firm I was working with at that time was a litigation law firm based in Asheville. So I've done all kinds of business and real estate related litigation. I've done municipal law, so I really have kind of a sprinkling of a lot of different things.
Jane Dearwester:I also have a background in consumer law settling consumer debts, and now I'm leading McIntyre's litigation division and we're really excited about this and hopeful about bringing more litigation, handling more elder law litigation throughout the firm and I'm based in the Hendersonville office and just really liking it. I enjoy our team here and bringing all of my real estate background here I've noticed has been very helpful. I'm learning a lot literally every day about elder law. Doing real estate law, there was always a little bit where we would bump up against elder law, but there's so much in the realm of elder law and estate planning. Like I said, I don't know about you, jordan, but I'm learning something new literally every day and it's really great.
Jordan Bentley:Yeah, absolutely, and you said and I know it's a big push for our firm on that you know we're going to grow this litigation arm that we have, so to speak, and that kind of stuff is. We're talking about people contesting wills, guardianships, people, you know, oral wills, trying to get those certified by the court, just all types of things that we run into. People challenging powers of attorney, and there's definitely a lot of litigation and a lot of court cases, right to get to the point, and we are in court quite a bit. I know Jane is specifically, and I don't. I also have experience as a closing attorney.
Jordan Bentley:When I first moved to North Carolina a handful of years ago, that was the first firm I worked at here and what I've noticed a lot, like Jane said, is I used to do closings or do title searches for properties passing through probate, or someone would come in and want to deed their property to their children, and that background has really come in handy. I sit down with people every day and we talk about what kind of deed work we need to do, how they own the property right. We're looking at people's deeds as we talk to them and figuring out the best way to pass whatever interest they have, making sure they have interest. After I did real estate closings, I spent two to three years doing family law, and just to relate that to this deed work we're talking about, you know people every day ask you know, the house is in my name. I want to go ahead and deed it to my son in just his name. Well, your wife, right, has to sign that deed because when you own it, she has a marital interest.
Jordan Bentley:And then what I really enjoy explaining to people, because so many people don't know, is that when you go ahead, however, we do it when that property passes to your child, right, their spouse has an interest in it too, and that's definitely something that I knew coming in based on my closing experience. I'm sure you dealt with that too, but I like teaching and explaining to people things that they don't know. That's one example. You know one common misconception, I guess how you could say it. Another one that we were talking about this morning had to do with powers of attorney, right and spouses.
Jane Dearwester:I know a lot of people come in and they think I don't need a power of attorney.
Jordan Bentley:I'm married right. My wife's got my back, or my husband will take care of it. He does the financial stuff, and that's not the place, is it?
Jane Dearwester:Right. And I noticed when we do our live seminars in the community, when I mention that fact, say, hey, if you're married, how many people think if you're married, your spouse can do whatever they need to do on your behalf? And pretty much everyone raises their hand. And when I say just let me tell you that's not the case, the shock and awe on everyone's face. That is something that is a very powerful misconception. That is something that is a very powerful misconception. And then the other one I was sharing as well is I have people respond to say well, I don't have to worry about probate because I have a will.
Jane Dearwester:Yes, that's a will does not avoid probate. A will is actually the guide through probate. So there are a lot of you know DIY folks out there right that are asked can I just get a will off the internet or can I just get this off the internet? And people ask me this in litigation context too. I said look, if you want to take your phone into court and have Siri talk to the judge for you, have at it. I don't think you're going to have a very good day in court with Siri. So please rely on a professional to do professional work. So sometimes people have sticker shock or are averse to, you know, paying a few hundred or a couple thousand dollars for estate work. Seen even in our short time here that when you see somebody who does have a plan in place versus someone who doesn't, what happens with their family that they leave behind is very, very different scenario.
Jordan Bentley:Absolutely, and to rope that back into litigation, where you and I find ourselves a lot would be. You know you want to make sure not only that you have a will and you have that in place, but that you are avoid. You have those things in place, you have the power of attorney, you have a will in place to avoid the cost of litigation. You said sticker shock and my brain immediately went to the cost of litigation. Right, You're paying for attorneys to go to court. You're paying court fees. You're taking time off work to go to court yourself, paying for attorneys to go to court.
Jane Dearwester:you're paying court fees. You're taking time off work to go to court yourself. Yes, it can be 10 times more or more right than the average estate plan that we put together. Versus cost of litigation, they are astronomically different. So the money that you would put in to get your plan in place and have this, you know, not only peace of mind and security and be able to avoid a lot of the drama and court process If you don't do it or you think I'll do it later, we never know when something is going to happen. And again, cost of litigation although we like being in court, we like doing our job. That way, I think I speak for myself. I'm very tuned in to how expensive it is and it's just necessary, right. It is not quick or easy. I tell people this at the front end of litigation all the time this is not quick or easy. The average superior court case takes 18 to 24 months to work its way through court, and that's if you're lucky. I have cases that have gone on six years, eight years. I mean this is. This can be a huge commitment and exactly what you said, jordan, not just of your money, but your time, the amount of time.
Jane Dearwester:We don't just take your litigation case and then you disappear. You need to be engaged with us throughout the litigation. You have to have your deposition taken. Disappear. You need to be engaged with us throughout the litigation. You have to have your deposition taken. Potentially, you have to sit under oath and answer questions under oath. There's written discovery. There's a lot of homework. There's a lot of homework involved. We want to try to avoid that.
Jordan Bentley:I say this to our clients now and I've been saying it since I started practicing, whether that was in family or real estate I will advocate for you. I will go to court, our firm will go to court for you. We'll fight for you. And I think it's fun To me. It's almost similar in my brain to playing sports, which I did growing up. The judge says let's go, gives you that nod and it's kind of like the whistle going off. I enjoy it. I get an adrenaline rush.
Jordan Bentley:I love advocating for people, I love advocating for our clients. But at the end of the day I'd rather not be there because it's better off if we handle it on the front end and having to whether that's an estate plan in place, you know, an agreement to transfer property or whatever you're trying to do it's it's much better to work it out ahead of time. But if we can't, or if you can, or if you don't want to, we'll absolutely go to court for you. We'll absolutely advocate for you. We'll fight our tails off. But that should be and in my opinion is, option two.
Jordan Bentley:Option one is the right plans in place, the right documents in place, the right tools in place ahead of time to avoid anything like that. And I think we preach that or advise that almost every day. Avoid anything like that, and I think we preach that or advise that almost every day.
Jane Dearwester:Yeah, yeah, I tend to agree. And what do they say? Best attorneys stay out of court. So we try to stay out of court, but we've still got to go. This is part of it. Like you said, it's like game time or for me, I think of it like this is the performance, this is the play, this is the performance part of it.
Jane Dearwester:And, yeah, I really appreciate working with our clients and I like that. We have those of us, the attorneys, especially. We all have different backgrounds and come in with our different backgrounds and can contribute to the overall experience and we all collaborate with each other. We have an attorney chat that thread that's going in the background where, if something comes up, we can reach out very quickly and easily to each other and say, hey, have you ever had this happen or do you know a case? Can you refer me to a case on this? So having that collaborative environment is just amazing. I really love that about this firm, that we all collaborate and help each other out, and I think that makes for a great overall product and overall result that comes out of it.
Jordan Bentley:Yeah, brett and Begley. You know the other attorney in the Shelby office with me. You know we'll sit in on appointments together, talk to clients together and some of them say I'm getting the two for one, you're getting the whole firm. All the attorneys collaborate. Like Jane said, we have a, you know, a chat or a thread. We we text or call each other all day to to collaborate on things or give advice, and then we also have an awesome team of parents Staff is incredible.
Jane Dearwester:It's not just the attorneys, their staff members that know way more than I do about various areas, so I very often rely on our staff.
Jordan Bentley:Yeah, all that to say right, you really do. Um, if you work with us, get the whole McIntyre Elder Law team whether that is planning in advance or whether we're going to court, no matter what stage of your issue or your plan you're trying to figure out or resolve, you get the whole team. And our whole team is knowledgeable, has experience, whether that be from different areas of law or different backgrounds, or we have some people who have been doing estate law for a decade or more, and if you add that all together, I really think that we have a powerhouse of a team and I've enjoyed being here every day.
Jane Dearwester:Yeah, awesome, same, all right, well, thank you so much for jumping on and catching up.
Jordan Bentley:Yeah, it was great to talk to you.
Jane Dearwester:Yeah, this is wonderful. So for those of you all watching this, thank you for listening and any estate planning or elder law questions that you have, you can contact any of our offices. We've got offices in Hendersonville, where I am, Shelby, where Jordan and Brenton are, and then in Charlotte with Sam and Greg.
Jordan Bentley:And we hope to see you guys in the office and would love to help in any way we can.
Jane Dearwester:That's right, cheers, have a great day.
Jordan Bentley:You as well, babe.
Jane Dearwester:All right, bye-bye.