Laying Down the Law: Accountant Edition

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Speaker1: [00:00:03] From the beyond unreasonable to help studios. In association with fighter production.

[00:00:11] It's lay down the law.

Speaker1: [00:00:19] With your host.

Speaker2: [00:00:21] Billy de Klerk.

Speaker3: [00:00:22] Hey, that's me.

Speaker1: [00:00:23] Yeah, that's right. Billy, that's you. Featuring J.C. Pia Smith. And Griffin Taylor. Only a mad man would dare to bring these people together to build a world of law and order only to tear it apart with laughter. That mad man is attorney Billy de Klerk. The result is a podcast blasted to the farthest reaches of the Internet. That podcast is this one, and it starts right now.

Speaker3: [00:00:55] Welcome to Laying Down the Law, the number one law and comedy podcast on the Internet, or so I've been told by myself. When I'm by myself. If this is your first time listening, Welcome. What we do is we take real, real legal cases, sometimes out of law school textbooks. This one is out of a textbook that we're going to read today, and we take top improv comedy performers and we improvise a fully made up comic scene. I want to introduce my guests today. First, welcome back to the podcast from season two, a brilliant comic wit, improviser co-creator of the legal comedy hit show You're On Mute, a Wikipedia savant and licensed realtor trademark. All rights reserved. Mr. J.

Speaker2: [00:01:42] Sing.

Speaker4: [00:01:43] Hello.

Speaker2: [00:01:46] Next. Welcome back.

Speaker3: [00:01:47] A costumer comic improviser actor, star of Second City show Live Rude Girls comedy show Law and Disorder. And she can be seen in the films. Listen Water and Will Wilhelmi the Church Lady Vampire Slayer. Welcome the very talented Ms..

Speaker2: [00:02:03] Smith.

Speaker5: [00:02:06] Thank you. Thank you. Great to be.

Speaker3: [00:02:08] Back. All right. Finally, welcome back to the podcast. An actor, writer, improviser, star of Second City, Hollywood and the Groundlings, another member of your On Mute. A sketch comedy artist and my brother from another mother. Seriously, some people cannot tell us apart except when we're standing together because he's about four feet taller than I am. Mr. Griffin.

Speaker2: [00:02:30] Taylor.

Speaker6: [00:02:32] Hello. Yeah, Nice to be here.

Speaker3: [00:02:35] Yeah, well, I'm thrilled to have you on the show. But first, we're going to have a word from our sponsor or sponsors.

Speaker5: [00:02:44] Insert advertisement here.

Speaker3: [00:02:49] So let's get into it. Let's talk about our case of the week. This week's topic is undue influence in the probate area. The idea of undue influence is when someone makes a will or a trust, you can sometimes challenge the will of trust, saying that the person who made the will was subject of undue influence by someone that is usually a beneficiary. And the classic case is a subsequent spouse and disinherited children. That's the the the most common case. This case is about the heir to the Johnson and Johnson for fortune, Seward Johnson. And he was basically born rich into the Band-Aid fortune.

Speaker6: [00:03:37] And he was very litigious. Right. That's why he was named Seward.

Speaker2: [00:03:40] Yes.

Speaker3: [00:03:44] No, I think maybe it's like Seward like he was I don't know if his Seward or Seward, but he was a very he liked boats, he liked oceanography. He actually almost crashed his boat when he saw his soon to be third wife while married to his second wife sunbathing. So we'll get to that.

Speaker2: [00:04:04] That's good. Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:04:06] Dan That's pretty much it.

Speaker5: [00:04:11] Hey, another just non sequitur. Wasn't one of the Johnson's black wasn't one of Johnson and Johnson. I am I am I wrong about that? Does it matter? Not that this is about race. Oh, my God. But I just.

Speaker2: [00:04:25] This is America.

Speaker4: [00:04:26] We have to know this Wikipedia.

Speaker2: [00:04:29] Oh, okay. Somebody already on. On it, On it. I'll be doing some research if I.

Speaker4: [00:04:33] Type Johnson and Johnson Black, am I going to just get born? Let's see. Oh, God, I have to get a new computer.

Speaker6: [00:04:46] But I've got a bookmarked. There's Johnson Products, George Johnson Senior from Johnson Products. It's an international cosmetics empire headquartered in Chicago. I don't know. That's not the same, but it's.

Speaker5: [00:05:00] Not a different. Johnson Okay.

Speaker2: [00:05:03] Different.

Speaker5: [00:05:03] Johnson okay. Okay. I think that's what I'm thinking about. Okay.

Speaker2: [00:05:07] Okay. All right.

Speaker6: [00:05:09] Machine. An Afro sheen.

Speaker2: [00:05:11] Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:05:12] That's what I was thinking about. The.

Speaker3: [00:05:14] The African. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:05:16] So the installation of Charlie, right?

Speaker3: [00:05:19] No relation to Charlie Sheen? None.

Speaker2: [00:05:22] Oh.

Speaker5: [00:05:23] Wow.

Speaker2: [00:05:24] Nice. You're welcome. You're welcome.

Speaker6: [00:05:28] That's most people are related to Charlie Sheen. And that's.

Speaker2: [00:05:31] True. So.

Speaker3: [00:05:34] Yeah, Johnson and Johnson, they were they were brothers and they had invented an adhesive tape that turned into Band-Aids and that turned into a multimillion dollar fortune which proceeded to ruin their family for generations. So Seward was the son of one of the Johnsons and was born into money, was wealthy his whole life, was married three times. He had four children from his first marriage and two children from his second marriage in his seventies. I believe he's 74, 76 years old. A young Polish emigre named Bhatia came to the United States with $100 in her pocket and an art history degree. Ten months later, she found herself being hired by Seward, Johnson's then wife, as a cook. She was she was such a terrible cook that she got demoted to chambermaid.

Speaker6: [00:06:25] Wait, what year is this chambermaid?

Speaker3: [00:06:30] The year that was in. It was in the seventies.

Speaker6: [00:06:34] Wow. People had chambermaids in the seventies.

Speaker3: [00:06:37] Well, they weren't. I don't think they were too clear on what her title was exactly, but she became sort of a personal attendant at PR. Yeah, the equivalent of a PR for wealthy. These people that are wealthy at this level. I mean, it's just it's a different. It's a different life. Yada, yada, yada. One thing leads to another and Seward puts her up in an apartment in New York and fills it with art. And one occasion he brought his son, Seward Jr by to show to show him this apartment where he had he kept Basha. Eventually he got a divorce, settled with his second wife for $20 million and a week later married Basha. None of the children were invited. None of his six children were invited to the marriage. This legal battle starts in the eighties, when, after he dies, he completely disinherited all six of his children and leaves everything to bosh about $500 million.

Speaker5: [00:07:35] Do we know why they never had children?

Speaker3: [00:07:38] Why Bhatia and Seward never had children?

Speaker2: [00:07:41] Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:07:42] I think they were too busy scuba diving and traveling internationally, buying art. So I don't know. You know, he was 70 something. She was 34.

Speaker2: [00:07:55] Oh.

Speaker3: [00:07:55] Yeah. Younger than most of his children.

Speaker5: [00:07:59] You go, girl. Yeah, In fact.

Speaker3: [00:08:02] I'll show you guys, because this is a visual medium, But that's a picture of Seward and Bhatia on vacation in the Bahamas.

Speaker5: [00:08:09] Okay, pull back a little bit.

Speaker6: [00:08:11] I feel like James Joyce.

Speaker2: [00:08:14] Okay, That's okay.

Speaker3: [00:08:15] The podcast listeners can't hear it either.

Speaker5: [00:08:18] I'm going to. I'll look it up myself.

Speaker2: [00:08:20] Yeah, Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:08:23] Here, I'll try it. Try again. Can you see Hillary ref?

Speaker6: [00:08:26] Oh, she's topless.

Speaker2: [00:08:27] No, she's wearing. She's not.

Speaker6: [00:08:30] It looks tough from this resolution. It looks like she's topless.

Speaker3: [00:08:33] It's. It's not much of a bikini, but it's a bikini.

Speaker6: [00:08:37] Listeners can't. Don't see this. But Billy is. He fogged out all of his backgrounds. Who knows what kind of pictures he has up in the background. Every time someone fogs their bathroom.

Speaker2: [00:08:46] In the background, you can't help it. Just, Oh.

Speaker3: [00:08:49] Yeah, you're going to see all of my you see all the pictures of my wife and.

Speaker2: [00:08:53] Kid. Yeah. And it's like.

Speaker6: [00:08:57] When people put tape over their self viewing camera on their laptop. What are they afraid of?

Speaker3: [00:09:03] Wait a second.

Speaker2: [00:09:04] Have you been looking? Can you see that?

Speaker6: [00:09:07] It's blurred out. It's your camera's automatically censoring whatever you're looking at.

Speaker2: [00:09:12] Oh, my.

Speaker3: [00:09:13] Other. The camera that's built into my laptop. I also has tape over it.

Speaker2: [00:09:17] So.

Speaker5: [00:09:18] Oh, really?

Speaker3: [00:09:19] Yeah. And then when I'm not on Zoom, I. I turn. I turn my camera around. I'm very. I saw the Edward Snowden movie. Okay.

Speaker6: [00:09:29] Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:09:30] I mean, I have things that the Russians would be interested in knowing.

Speaker2: [00:09:38] I mean.

Speaker3: [00:09:40] They're very interested in all my. You know, I have no idea. My comedy. Actually, we do. You know, laying down the law does perform very well in the Ukraine. It's got it's one of the higher rated comedy podcasts.

Speaker5: [00:09:54] Because you're serious.

Speaker3: [00:09:56] No, I am serious. It's one of the highest it's where my it's the number one performing country in the world of laying down the law.

Speaker5: [00:10:02] It's like, oh, my God, we should we should be speaking directly to them.

Speaker3: [00:10:05] Well, we you know, it was it was actually your performance PR that's largely responsible for that. Stop it. Yeah. No, the reenactment of the call with President Zelinsky from season one.

Speaker5: [00:10:17] Oh, my God. My head is swelling. It's not even going to fit in this frame.

Speaker3: [00:10:20] No, I mean, they're they're genuine. They're genuine fans that are like, Oh.

Speaker2: [00:10:25] And Pia.

Speaker3: [00:10:26] Is back. She is back on the show.

Speaker5: [00:10:29] God, we got to go on tour.

Speaker3: [00:10:31] Exactly. The live laying down law tour of the Ukraine.

Speaker2: [00:10:35] The Ukraine. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yep, yeah, yep.

Speaker5: [00:10:40] All right, all right, all right, all right.

Speaker2: [00:10:42] So Portia was.

Speaker3: [00:10:43] A she was an art history major from Poland. She came to the United States at age of 34 with $100 in her pocket. Ten months later, was hired by Seward Johnson's wife. Then shortly thereafter became Seward, Johnson's third wife. And they proceeded for the next 12 years to travel the world together, scuba dive by art, do the things that wealthy people do. Seward Johnson had a basically a personal lawyer from a top law firm in New York, and he was assigned a young associate by the name of Nina Zagat. Nina Zagat is probably better known for her work with her husband, writing the Zagat Dining Guides, which they had started when.

Speaker2: [00:11:24] Their that hey.

Speaker3: [00:11:25] Yeah, they started that when they were in Paris as law students and they they started collecting reviews and then their New York lawyers and they were would eat out and then they would collect these commentary and it turned into this side business that they were doing. So. So Nina's a cat was basically the personal go to lawyer for Seward. She would write his checks for him, kind of manage his accounts. If they were going to buy art, she would negotiate the art price like basically a constant lira to him and would win around the world. She was kind of mysterious in the law firm, in this group that was focused on these ultra high net worth people, and they would just basically get assigned to somebody. And it was very discreet because she was much closer in age to Bastia and went everywhere with them. I guess they actually became kind of friends. So in the litigation, the issue of of how close a friends they were became kind of a contentious issue. So Nina got passed over for partner after eight or ten years at the law firm. And I believe she had she had been Seward's Johnson Seward, Johnson's lawyer before Bashar even came into the picture.

Speaker3: [00:12:34] But she had a couple of kids at home. She had another interest. She's writing this dining guide and basically wasn't made partner at her law firm. So Seward Johnson six months later changed his will. And he was he changed his will all the time. He was you know, that's what wealthy people do. They Oh, the tax law changed. I'm going to change my will again. So one of the ways he changed his will was he gave he he had three trustees on his will are three executors. And under New York law, you can do it by a percentage instead of by a by a fee. And so he set the the the New York statute percentage, which was 2%, meaning that the three executors, Nina Zagat, his son Sue Seward Jr. And Bhatia each got $6 million executor fees after he died. So that's like I was a huge reward for somebody who was you know Yeah. So so so that was a an issue in the in the litigation. The other the other issue was that he had completely disinherited all six of his children. So this.

Speaker6: [00:13:54] Someone else do this didn't or Buffett do this or he Warren Buffett limited like all his kids are getting pretty much like six figures at most and he said they can earn their way and then he's given the rest to charity or something.

Speaker3: [00:14:10] Isn't Yeah he's yeah, he's giving it to the I believe the Gates Foundation.

Speaker6: [00:14:16] Oh, really?

Speaker2: [00:14:17] I think so. He needs the money. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker6: [00:14:24] They're very underfunded.

Speaker2: [00:14:26] Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:14:27] Due to the country of Monaco.

Speaker2: [00:14:28] Yeah, well, Monaco snuck in the world.

Speaker3: [00:14:32] Well, sort of like. Yeah, sort of like Warren Buffett. Seward's thinking, was he. He wasn't particularly close with his children, and his children weren't particularly close with him. Possibly because he was more interested.

Speaker2: [00:14:47] Yeah. Yeah. Just got one out of his. Well, my law.

Speaker3: [00:14:53] School my law school textbook refers to him as a randy septuagenarian, which.

Speaker2: [00:14:57] Oh, okay.

Speaker3: [00:15:03] But yes.

Speaker2: [00:15:05] I love the pen name.

Speaker4: [00:15:07] Randy is such a generic. Sincerely.

Speaker2: [00:15:14] Yeah.

Speaker6: [00:15:16] Just like romance novels.

Speaker2: [00:15:18] Right, Right.

Speaker5: [00:15:20] But that's power when you can be defined as that, as opposed to what you really are. Which is a dick.

Speaker2: [00:15:25] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker5: [00:15:27] A randy septuagenarian.

Speaker3: [00:15:29] Yeah, exactly. Well, his kids had been given plenty of money over the years as his figuring, and they had given him Johnson and Johnson stock to the tune of like $100,000,100 million plus in the eighties, which is quite a lot of money. So he figured they already had all these money and all this money and trust funds, and some of the kids hadn't been able to live just off of the allowance that that stock spun off for them, like they had invaded the trust funds because they were just like dad. They, you know, they they like to spend money on things. And there's a book written about this that goes into a lot of detail about all the different kids and the different things that they did that were crazy and. So he figured and this had been the case for many of his wills for years. He had taken them out years before he died. But in his last will, it was about 30 days before he died. He had cancer and he had updated the will to also remove a gift to a nonprofit that he started in Florida that was dedicated to oceanography. So he had he had had a he had had money in the will for this nonprofit foundation. And he took that out, gave more to gave the rest to Basha. So and then they had different gifts to a bunch of servants, five, $10,000 to all these different servants that Basha had Hansen hired over the years.

Speaker6: [00:17:02] Wait, how often was he editing, as Will?

Speaker3: [00:17:05] Frequently. I mean, to make basically the way the way this the the stories. Basically every time the law would change or he he would get mad at somebody and he'd update his will or it was just it was kind of a that was one of his, you know, other than boating and scuba diving and buying expensive art and, you know, philandering, you know, updating his will was kind of like the next thing on the list.

Speaker6: [00:17:34] Philandering is a very close to philanthropy.

Speaker2: [00:17:37] Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:17:39] That's true.

Speaker6: [00:17:39] On giving fine line between the two. Yeah, I like the idea. I like the idea of him using updating as well. Like I'm just having a like a Google doc that he edits.

Speaker2: [00:17:49] All the time.

Speaker6: [00:17:50] Just like every small, stupid little infraction opening up the Google doc.

Speaker3: [00:17:56] Yeah, I'm updating my exactly.

Speaker5: [00:17:59] Like, every time he has a conversation with this kid, he's like, Hey, just, you know, I've got the Google doc opened. So how is your day? Francis I'm just.

Speaker2: [00:18:11] Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:18:12] So do you live long enough to find out about Wikipedia editing that all day?

Speaker3: [00:18:17] That was pretty much that would have probably kept him in his second marriage because it's quite it's quite consuming to update Wikipedia. Really busy in his last few months, you know, it became clear he was terminal and the kids came back to visit him a lot in the last five months before he died. And he didn't put them back in. After he died, the kids filed a lawsuit in probate court in New York, claiming that he had been subjected to undue influence at the hands of Bastia and Nina Zagat, that they had basically persuaded this enfeebled old man to change his will on his deathbed when he was too weak and and was being misguided. And it was a very splashy trial was it was in the newspapers. It was the talk of the the New York legal community. There were 30,000 pages of depositions. The trial lasted six months. There's some belief that the judge was actually kind of hinting that she wanted a bribe. She kept making rulings in favor of the kids and against Bosch, Bosch was basically portrayed as this holy terror screaming psychopath, like everything like they would tell the kids would say it's these stories about how she would was terrorizing their father and would, like, scream at him and make him do things like, like called him stupid. And like like they portrayed her as this, just this this, like, insane, controlling woman. Maybe she was, I don't know. And that that basically she and Nina Zagat had had had conspired and colluded to enrich themselves at the expense of the kids. Here's the thing. Under New York law, if the last will have been set aside, then the prior will would have gone into effect. And the only real difference as far as the kids were concerned between the last rule and the prior will was that the nonprofit would have gotten like 20, $20 million more. And so the nonprofit was also represented by a big New York law firm. And they were they were kind of hoping to get it set aside, too, but it wouldn't have done them any good.

Speaker5: [00:20:22] Yeah, right. So even if even if the prior will was.

Speaker3: [00:20:27] Reinstated.

Speaker5: [00:20:28] That went into effect, the kids still wouldn't have gotten.

Speaker3: [00:20:29] Anything right. They would have had to go back, I think like five or six years or something like that. And wills and all of the prior wills. It was clear that he wasn't sick. He wasn't like he was just right. He was just a dick.

Speaker2: [00:20:43] So as.

Speaker6: [00:20:44] I just.

Speaker2: [00:20:44] Say.

Speaker6: [00:20:46] Not to critique your profession, Billy.

Speaker2: [00:20:49] But please do.

Speaker6: [00:20:51] The legal field seems like such a waste of paper. Oh, yeah. Like all these lawsuits and all these, like, everyone needs copies of the same shit, and it's just like no one reads these huge contracts that are hundreds of pages. Thousands, maybe. I just think of what the people printing off these things and, like, just how many trees? How many, how much of the rain? Force in the Amazon is authorized by legal cases changing as well, despite his kids.

Speaker3: [00:21:21] Right. Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker6: [00:21:24] There's a lot of it digital now as opposed to like physical paper.

Speaker3: [00:21:28] It is a lot. It's moving to be more digital. I maintain a paperless office to the extent I can. So. So because I don't like dealing with paper because I don't read it either. To be very.

Speaker2: [00:21:40] Frank. Well, anyone who's looking for legal services, you heard it here first. Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:21:46] Even the stuff I write, I'm just like, with my eyes closed, I'm just typing. It's like the 10,000 monkeys on a typewriter. I'm like, I'm billing by the hour. Who cares?

Speaker2: [00:21:55] It takes me 10000 hours. That's fine.

Speaker5: [00:21:58] Okay, so the first law firm to announce their carbon neutral is.

Speaker2: [00:22:02] Yeah.

Speaker6: [00:22:03] I like it.

Speaker3: [00:22:05] Yeah. So? So it was pretty, pretty interesting. Six month trial. A lot of testimony about how the kids were jerks, how Bosch was a jerk, how Nina Zagat was a preying on this opportunity that she was that she was somehow manipulating things. And she had actually testified that she advised Seward. He said, you know, he asked her, what can I do to make sure that there's no litigation after I die? And she said, Oh, this is airtight. It's not going to be a problem. You know, he was kind of like naive on her part. But but yeah, she they thought because there was, you know, they got they got a doctor's note at the time that he was of sound mind, but it was kind of a perfunctory thing. And he wanted to write a letter basically explaining why he was doing it. And she said she testified that she had told him that would just lead to more litigation or he said that he thought it would just lead to more litigation if he wrote a letter about his intentions. So it was that is essentially the litigation. Anyone want to guess what happened? It did go to the jury guesses on how it how it played out.

Speaker2: [00:23:23] Very respectful.

Speaker6: [00:23:25] Raising her hand.

Speaker5: [00:23:27] Yeah. Porsha got the money. And she married like a 24 year old servant. And they went back to whatever came from the Balkans.

Speaker2: [00:23:38] Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:23:40] You're all wrong. It's settled. While the jury had the case, after they gave the case to the jury, Basha essentially caved in and gave each of the gave the kids 12% of this multi million dollars. She also paid the legal fees for both sides to the tune of about $20 million.

Speaker2: [00:23:59] Oh, wow.

Speaker3: [00:24:01] Uh huh. And the gifts to Nina Zagat and ended up standing. So Nina's got in doing that and she got all the all the art and all the houses and everything and ended up continuing to build this palatial mansion that is now a PGA golf course in New York, I think. And that's the industry. And Nina Zagat went on to do restaurant guides. I don't think she went back to the practice law after getting $6 million.

Speaker2: [00:24:27] Yeah. Wow.

Speaker3: [00:24:30] All this can be. If you're interested, there's a book called Undue Influence The Epic Battle for Johnson and Johnson's Fortune. It's inaccurate because it wasn't for Johnson and Johnson's fortune. It was only for Johnson's fortune. Is really, really.

Speaker4: [00:24:47] Hard to judge a book by its cover.

Speaker3: [00:24:51] So this should be the epic battle for one half of Johnson's Fortune 1993 By David Margolick.

Speaker5: [00:25:00] Wow. So any I mean, so I guess things looked bad for her, which is why she settled. Or did she settle because she actually had a heart and wanted the kids to have the money. Do we know?

Speaker3: [00:25:11] I think she settled because things were looking pretty bad. The book kind of plays it or describes it that the lawyers for the kids were exceptionally aggressive. They they had a lot of questionable tactics. They portrayed her as a you know, as really a horrible person. And then they got all these rulings from the judge that were like, she lost every ruling in front of the judge, that the judge was very biased. They thought it was the kind of the take on it, very biased against Basha. And interestingly, you know, the way the the probate court system in the state of New York worked at the time was that if you're a if you're a judge and it was called in the court of surrogates, you the way you get challenged is something would go up to the Court of Appeal. But none of the Court of Appeal judges would really challenge somebody below, because the way you made money if you were on the Court of Appeal was you got hired as a private referee or a guardian or a a an administrator of someone's estate, and you collect fees that way. And so you didn't want to piss off any of the judges below by ruling against them, because then you'd be hurting your own chances to get appointed for one of these plum gigs for these wealthy, you know, probate cases.

Speaker3: [00:26:34] So so it's a pretty good sign that the judge was very biased against Bhatia and she was probably going to lose. And so that's why she cut a deal that was so bad for her. And the other thing, too, that's interesting about the case, another interesting aspect is that during his lifetime, Seward Johnson was was heavily guided to make sure that Florida was his domicile for a whole bunch of reasons relating to tax and estate taxes and stuff. He didn't want his estate to be taxed, as most rich people don't. And so Florida had very friendly laws that he made sure that he had a house in Florida, that he voted in Florida, that he lived in Florida enough at the time. But then when they went to probate his will, they probated it in New York, which is the reason why Nina's got the executor was able to get the New York statutory probate fee of close to $6 million. So so that is kind of questionable in itself to it might have been a different outcome if they had probated the will in Florida.

Speaker6: [00:27:49] Wait. So it's called the fee, but it's really their inheritance. Or it's like what they get in the will.

Speaker3: [00:27:55] The. So so an executor administrator of a of an estate. It's it's the job of dividing up the assets after someone dies. Right. And so that job comes with a fee in any in any kind of probate or trustee case and the fees can be quite large if someone is going to be a. They can they can be reasonable. They can be large. Sometimes they're set by the court, sometimes they're set by the the terms of the estate plan. But that's actually a job that you have to do. You have to figure out, you know, who gets checks, who what bills need to get paid off, what what needs to happen to property that the person owned, you know, who's going to get the boat? Are they going to sell it? Who's going to get the house in New York? Who's going to get the house in Florida? How do you determine the value? All that work isn't done by the court. That's done by the trustee or the administrator, and that person gets paid a fee and it can be set in a variety of different ways. In this case, New York had a statute that said there can be a statutory fee. That's a percentage of the value of the estate, which is much more money than than it would have been paid. And Nina Zagat was paid fees while she was working for Seward during his life. So it wasn't like it was working for free. And then you get this bonus at the end or something, you know, afterwards it was but but that basically the the, the testimony of the evidence was that he felt like she had been not treated right by his law firm, by her law firm, and that she ought to get something from his. So he wanted her to have the money. So who knows if that was true or self or that that was.

Speaker2: [00:29:42] What the evidence was.

Speaker6: [00:29:44] Do you know, just off the top of your head, what percentage of people have wills?

Speaker3: [00:29:51] I don't know the percentage, but it's not enough because 100% of everybody dies.

Speaker6: [00:29:59] Wait, wait, wait. Let me back up.

Speaker3: [00:30:01] Yeah. 100% of everybody dies.

Speaker2: [00:30:03] Yeah.

Speaker6: [00:30:04] No, no, no, no.

Speaker5: [00:30:05] Yeah, that's true. I don't think you have your facts.

Speaker2: [00:30:08] That's true.

Speaker4: [00:30:09] That's true.

Speaker3: [00:30:10] No, it's true. It's true. I've. I've extensively researched this on Wikipedia. And what was that other one? Sports. Netcom.

Speaker2: [00:30:19] The web dot org. Does everyone die?

Speaker3: [00:30:25] So, I don't know. It's a low.

Speaker6: [00:30:27] Percentage. What happens when someone doesn't have a will?

Speaker3: [00:30:30] Okay, I know, Cal. So under California law, you. There are sort of three boxes you can fall into. One is if you have a trust. One is if you have a will and one is if you are what's called intestate, which means you don't have a will or a trust. So if you if you die in test it, then it goes to probate court. And probate court will assign an administrator of your estate and that person will be responsible for disposing of your assets, paying off any debts. And then your assets are divided up according to a statutory scheme that that basically says there's a rule. It's called the rules of intestate succession. So it goes to a spouse first and then it goes to your own kids first. And there's a a table called the Table of Consent.

Speaker5: [00:31:29] Mcguinty I would like you to slowly pronounce the word consanguinity.

Speaker3: [00:31:34] You said it perfect.

Speaker5: [00:31:36] Did I?

Speaker2: [00:31:36] You did.

Speaker3: [00:31:38] I gave this to my dad in law school because he would always talk about like, who's my cousin once removed, my cousin twice removed. So it's all it's arrows and like, family relationships.

Speaker5: [00:31:50] It looks like a pyramid scheme.

Speaker3: [00:31:52] It is?

Speaker2: [00:31:53] Yeah. Family. Is that so? You have.

Speaker3: [00:31:56] First. First. It goes to your children and your parents. If you don't have a spouse, then your grandchildren and your grandparents and your brothers and sisters. That's the second degree of consanguinity. The third degree of consanguinity is your aunts and uncles, your nieces and nephews, and your great grandchildren. So it goes up and it goes up and down and across.

Speaker6: [00:32:25] Is there is there such thing as like, a spite will? Like if you have a lot of debt or like if you have like a lot of Beanie Babies or something? You just want to like you have a lot of figurines and, you know, someone hated them and you always resented them for their hatred of your figurines.

Speaker3: [00:32:43] People do all kinds of crazy stuff in their will. And some, you know, a lot of times they cause a lot of pain to the people they leave behind, like the people that they leave out of their will for not not really a clear.

Speaker2: [00:32:54] Reason or or why did you why did you.

Speaker3: [00:33:01] Like why did you give all your money to to this sibling and not that sibling? And that's what I that's really what causes a lot of these undue influences or will challenges because someone's like, why did I get cut out? I don't understand.

Speaker5: [00:33:17] And also greed.

Speaker3: [00:33:20] Greed. Yeah. Well and so practitioners, this is a problem you deal with because the person who made the decision isn't around to say why. Right. So so.

Speaker6: [00:33:30] We do board.

Speaker3: [00:33:31] Exactly.

Speaker6: [00:33:32] Ag boards. Legally they hold water.

Speaker3: [00:33:35] Yeah, they do. Absolutely.

Speaker2: [00:33:38] Can you call. Oh.

Speaker5: [00:33:39] Here's a question. Do they sometimes like leave a note in the will like And the reason you're not in this shit, Jeremy, is because on June 12, 19, you know, is there a lot of that?

Speaker3: [00:33:52] Sometimes there is that sort of thing. Sometimes what people will do is they will do a video.

Speaker5: [00:34:00] Oh, my God.

Speaker3: [00:34:01] Like, like a video explanation, Like good, bad or indifferent. Right? But like, I've left you this, I've left you that. And part of that is for the evidence that it's not undue influence, that the person is of sound mind that they are, that they are in possession of their faculties when they're making the decision. So it's partly evidentiary and partly, I think, you know, there's a human impulse. If you feel like somebody if you've been wronged, then you're more likely to run to court. But if you understand the reason why something happened, then, you know, as a practical matter, maybe you're not.

Speaker5: [00:34:35] And if there's video proof of the person saying, no, I'm not wrong, this is I'll get the money.

Speaker3: [00:34:42] I meant it. I meant it.

Speaker2: [00:34:45] Wasn't a mistake.

Speaker4: [00:34:46] To talk.

Speaker2: [00:34:46] Well.

Speaker3: [00:34:47] Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker6: [00:34:50] How long find.

Speaker3: [00:34:52] Yeah, how.

Speaker4: [00:34:52] Long? Will explain. I'm a I am of sound mind Exactly.

Speaker6: [00:34:58] And all these comments coming up on the side.

Speaker2: [00:35:00] Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:35:01] This reminds me more than anything of Anna Nicole Smith.

Speaker3: [00:35:05] It's it is similar to that Well which spell. There are two layers to that right.

Speaker6: [00:35:09] Because we love story.

Speaker3: [00:35:12] Because you know the.

Speaker2: [00:35:13] Old guy.

Speaker5: [00:35:14] I'm thinking of a love story. Definitely.

Speaker3: [00:35:16] But then she died, like, not long after he did.

Speaker5: [00:35:20] Oh, that's right. I forgot.

Speaker6: [00:35:22] And so her baby. I blame TrimSpa.

Speaker3: [00:35:25] Her. Yeah, I think so. Her her will contest went to the United States Supreme Court. Did you know that?

Speaker2: [00:35:33] Wow.

Speaker3: [00:35:34] Yeah. The Anna Nicole Smith's. I don't remember why, but it went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Speaker4: [00:35:40] And there was a lawyer named Howard Stern on that case, wasn't there?

Speaker6: [00:35:43] Right. I think you're right. It was married to her.

Speaker2: [00:35:45] Yeah, I.

Speaker5: [00:35:49] I because I remember that they made him make a video like her and like somebody some dude, some other person who was jockeying for the money. But do you remember that? Like they made a video of him saying, I am of sound mind and I want. But he looked crazy in the video like it?

Speaker2: [00:36:09] Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:36:12] He was not of sound mind.

Speaker3: [00:36:13] Yeah. The video doesn't always work well the other thing that that works and that might have worked in the Seward Johnson case, to be very honest, is a no contest clause. And so a no contest clause is a lawyer workaround to prevent people from filing a will contest. So what you do is you put in the will a clause that says, I'm giving you this much money, but if you challenge this, will.

Speaker5: [00:36:38] You get nothing?

Speaker2: [00:36:39] Get nothing. Wow.

Speaker3: [00:36:41] So it raises the stakes. So you're like so it makes it like a different kind of a bet if you're thinking about challenging the will. Because it's like if you're not getting anything, you've got nothing to lose by filing the will contest if you've got something to lose. Because if you if you let's say there's $1,000,000 in there for you, if each of the kids had $1,000,000 gift, that if that was a no contest clause, they might not have challenged the well for $100 Million figuring, well, you know, I don't want to I don't want to put $1,000,000 on the line to potentially. You know, to potentially lose that.

Speaker5: [00:37:18] I am so glad I was born a pauper.

Speaker3: [00:37:22] Well, you know.

Speaker5: [00:37:24] When I think of all of this nonsense I could be going through, I just, you know, easier.

Speaker3: [00:37:33] Yeah. Actually, when I was preparing, there was a quote, one of the grandchildren of Seward Johnson was quoted as saying, If we hadn't have had so much money, maybe we would have been a better family.

Speaker2: [00:37:48] Oh, yeah. Oh.

Speaker5: [00:37:50] Wow. Tugs at your heartstrings. Insert advertisement.

Speaker2: [00:37:54] Here. Good money. Buy anything. And welcome to Sylvie's Playhouse. Yes. Today we're.

Speaker5: [00:38:08] Going to talk about the word of the.

Speaker2: [00:38:10] Day. The word of the day is crypto currency. Yeah. Okay. And you all say crypto currency, rip crypto.

Speaker4: [00:38:25] They.

Speaker5: [00:38:28] I would like to go first in using cryptocurrency in a sentence. Oh, dear. I have come to the Laundromat without any cryptocurrency.

Speaker2: [00:38:47] Yeah. Hey, hey, hey.

Speaker6: [00:38:53] I can go second. It's the only way I've heard it used. And it's my dad talking on the phone. Excuse me. Call girl. Do you take cryptocurrency? If not? Oh, well.

Speaker2: [00:39:09] Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:39:13] I'm a go, Saad. I. I wanted to rename the founder. This is Hodge of Johnson and Johnson as the cryptocurrency word. Johnson is combining his first name with the end of the word currency.

Speaker2: [00:39:38] Yes, that was confusing, Terrence, but I liked it.

Speaker4: [00:39:45] You're welcome.

Speaker6: [00:39:47] My dad also uses the C-word a bunch.

Speaker4: [00:39:52] Yeah, that's what he said before he married the chambermaid.

Speaker6: [00:39:57] Wow. Pee-wee's changed a bunch since it's been on HBO.

Speaker5: [00:40:04] I feel like it's a grown up college internship version of the Pee wee's Playhouse, where we learn big words.

Speaker2: [00:40:22] Now tune in.

Speaker3: [00:40:22] Tomorrow where we'll talk about Non-fungible.

Speaker2: [00:40:25] Tokens. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:40:27] Hey. Coming up next, The Real Housewives of Sesame Street.

Speaker2: [00:40:36] Yeah. Hey.

Speaker3: [00:40:41] Tammy. Tammy. Tammy.

Speaker2: [00:40:44] Tammy.

Speaker5: [00:40:45] What is it, darling?

Speaker2: [00:40:46] Tammy. Grover.

Speaker3: [00:40:50] Yesterday crashed his Beamer again.

Speaker2: [00:40:54] Oh, my God. I don't know what. I'm going to.

Speaker3: [00:41:00] Drive to my daughter's debutante.

Speaker2: [00:41:02] Ball.

Speaker5: [00:41:05] Seaman. I think that you are going to have to tell your daughter. That she has got to get off of her ass and get herself a job. You just got to put it out there. These kids are so spoiled these days.

Speaker3: [00:41:22] They're so you're so right. You're so right. You're so right. You're so right. Grover. Get in here. Grover, Get in here. Get in here. Grover.

Speaker5: [00:41:32] Grover.

Speaker2: [00:41:33] You know, Grover.

Speaker3: [00:41:37] We've been talking with Tammy, Tammy and I. Tammy and I. And. And we think you need to get off your ass and get a job.

Speaker2: [00:41:45] You have been. Oh.

Speaker3: [00:41:47] You've been driving your your your your father's car all over town, and you crashed another BMW.

Speaker2: [00:41:55] Get a job. I have a job. But it's putting up with your B.S.. Grover. Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:42:05] Listen to Aunty Tammy.

Speaker5: [00:42:08] We. Have just been. Looking at the will over the last week and. We were just getting ready to make a live video. That might be evidence of you being written right out of it. Unless you get your shit together.

Speaker2: [00:42:32] Get your shit together.

Speaker5: [00:42:33] Get your shit together. Go over.

Speaker2: [00:42:35] I told you, I'm in.

Speaker6: [00:42:38] Classes. I'm an art history major. I'm doing my.

Speaker2: [00:42:41] Best.

Speaker6: [00:42:42] It's a degree that can lead to real money once.

Speaker2: [00:42:45] I get it. Once I finish school, I only need maybe six, seven more years.

Speaker5: [00:42:54] Seaman. I think you're going to have to be a little bit more forceful with Grover.

Speaker3: [00:43:00] You're right. You're you're right.

Speaker2: [00:43:02] You're right.

Speaker5: [00:43:02] And the leverage that we have at this moment.

Speaker2: [00:43:08] That's right.

Speaker3: [00:43:09] I'm. I'm. I'm prepared to completely disinherit you, Grover.

Speaker2: [00:43:13] Completely.

Speaker3: [00:43:14] Unless you finish your art history, Major. In five years.

Speaker2: [00:43:20] Five years? That's like five years, a class a quarter.

Speaker3: [00:43:25] And we're going to cut your monthly budget, your monthly allowance down to $10,000.

Speaker5: [00:43:33] See how you do with that. Grover Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:43:35] Deal with that.

Speaker2: [00:43:36] $10,000. Oh, my God. Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:43:39] Yeah. You want to talk about starving? Yeah. See all you can live on 10,000.

Speaker2: [00:43:46] You're spoiled, you're spoiled, you're spoiled. You need to get it and get. Get it in gear. Get your ass in gear. How dare you? You know. I hate you. I hate both of you. I don't care. I'm going to go live out on the Sesame Street. I don't care. All of the garbage can.

Speaker5: [00:44:09] And I've got all of that on video. Just so you know, Grover. And it's pretty incriminating. Good luck out there in the streets. With your $10,000.

Speaker2: [00:44:21] A month you'll get.

Speaker5: [00:44:28] See when that was pretty good. I think we put him in his place.

Speaker3: [00:44:31] That was pretty good. That was pretty good. Let's get let's let's now with shall we? Shall we tell one of the one of my other kids?

Speaker5: [00:44:37] Oh, absolutely.

Speaker3: [00:44:38] Which one should we tell?

Speaker5: [00:44:39] I think it's time to get Roman in here.

Speaker3: [00:44:43] Roman, get in here.

Speaker5: [00:44:45] Roman, get in here.

Speaker3: [00:44:46] Get in here, Roman.

Speaker5: [00:44:47] Seaman has something to say to you.

Speaker4: [00:44:50] Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:44:51] I am tired of you sinking our speedboats.

Speaker2: [00:44:55] I've just had it. You sunk three speedboats last month. Three, three, three.

Speaker4: [00:45:02] Yeah, but I told you, Dad. I've always dreamt of playing a real life game of Battleship. And I thought you believed in my dreams.

Speaker2: [00:45:11] Well.

Speaker3: [00:45:12] Can't you have dreams that involve sinking fewer boats?

Speaker4: [00:45:17] There's a grid here, Dad. I'm playing along with the grid.

Speaker3: [00:45:23] Oh, that's actually kind of a good plan.

Speaker5: [00:45:26] You know.

Speaker2: [00:45:26] What?

Speaker3: [00:45:27] That is actually kind of. That is kind of a good plan.

Speaker4: [00:45:31] Yeah, well, I guess it just sunk your battleship.

Speaker3: [00:45:34] Yeah, I think he did. I think we should. We should. We should. Maybe up his up his monthly allowance.

Speaker5: [00:45:41] I think.

Speaker3: [00:45:41] So. I think we need Yeah.

Speaker5: [00:45:44] Maybe increase it by about 30,000 a month and maybe even give him extra to make a documentary.

Speaker3: [00:45:50] Why don't we. Why don't we just give him one bitcoin every month.

Speaker2: [00:45:54] Oh, give.

Speaker3: [00:45:55] Him one bitcoin every month. And one boat, one Bitcoin and one boat.

Speaker5: [00:46:00] Roman. We're willing to give you one Bitcoin a month. If you could tell us the meaning of the word.

Speaker3: [00:46:11] Bitcoin. What's the word?

Speaker5: [00:46:12] The meaning of the word Bitcoin. Roman We have these.

Speaker3: [00:46:15] I don't know what they are.

Speaker4: [00:46:18] Okay. Well, it's a name for a specific currency that is based off of blockchain technology, which is itself a ledger of endless calculations that are controlled.

Speaker5: [00:46:29] By your name.

Speaker4: [00:46:32] Yeah, it's really it's. It's kind of dumb. And it's destroying the world.

Speaker5: [00:46:39] Oh, well, that's better.

Speaker3: [00:46:40] That's a good explanation.

Speaker5: [00:46:41] Good.

Speaker2: [00:46:42] That's really good.

Speaker4: [00:46:43] Speaking your language.

Speaker2: [00:46:46] Perfect one.

Speaker5: [00:46:47] So much better than.

Speaker3: [00:46:48] So much better than Grover. So much.

Speaker2: [00:46:50] Better.

Speaker4: [00:46:52] Yeah. He's still living in that trashcan.

Speaker5: [00:46:56] But he'll be crawling back any day now. We've given him $10,000 a month to live, and he'll never make it. But you are just showing yourself to be the shining star of this family.

Speaker3: [00:47:12] And you're going to be able to spend all that Bitcoin. I don't know how, but some way.

Speaker2: [00:47:18] Or those bitcoins. Some way.

Speaker4: [00:47:22] I'm good at that. Mom and dad spending is in my blood. Its consequence, if you will. Oh.

Speaker5: [00:47:31] Wow. Very nice. What word?

Speaker3: [00:47:34] I don't know what it means, but it sounds good.

Speaker5: [00:47:36] Why don't you tell us what the word means?

Speaker2: [00:47:39] Okay.

Speaker5: [00:47:40] Or more money.

Speaker4: [00:47:42] It is a form of blockchain technology, which itself is based off of an endless ledger of calculations that are used to destroy the world.

Speaker5: [00:47:53] That's the same thing.

Speaker2: [00:47:55] That's different.

Speaker3: [00:47:57] Words, same.

Speaker5: [00:47:57] Meaning. He's trying to mix us.

Speaker3: [00:47:59] I'm so confused.

Speaker4: [00:48:00] That's why I keep winning.

Speaker5: [00:48:03] Huh?

Speaker4: [00:48:04] Right.

Speaker5: [00:48:08] I need to have a word with your father.

Speaker3: [00:48:11] Yes.

Speaker5: [00:48:13] Can you can you step out for a minute? Roman, We have some things to discuss.

Speaker4: [00:48:17] Yeah, I'm going to go back to the harbor.

Speaker5: [00:48:19] Don't go far away. Just go into the living room and we'll call you right back when we're done.

Speaker4: [00:48:23] Which one? Upstairs, downstairs, Downstairs.

Speaker2: [00:48:27] Smarty pants.

Speaker5: [00:48:28] Upstairs, smarty pants.

Speaker4: [00:48:30] Okay, I'll be there.

Speaker5: [00:48:34] Well. Seaman.

Speaker3: [00:48:37] Yes, Tammy.

Speaker5: [00:48:40] I think he's trying to pull a fast.

Speaker3: [00:48:44] I don't understand any of the words he's using.

Speaker5: [00:48:46] Well, don't try to mix us up because.

Speaker2: [00:48:48] He knows it.

Speaker3: [00:48:50] Yeah, he's he you know that all that expensive schooling and the nautical training and all that he learned all these fancy words and port, starboard cryptocurrency. I don't know what any of it means.

Speaker5: [00:49:00] I have no idea what he's talking about.

Speaker3: [00:49:02] I don't know what he's talking about either, but it sounds great. I don't know what it means.

Speaker5: [00:49:07] Now, I don't know if I like him better than Grover.

Speaker3: [00:49:11] Yeah. Yeah. I don't know either, I.

Speaker5: [00:49:16] Let's get back in here. I think we should give him another chance.

Speaker2: [00:49:19] Oh.

Speaker3: [00:49:19] Absolutely.

Speaker5: [00:49:21] I have an idea. Should we get them both in here and have a word off with them? And whoever comes up with the best description, something we actually understand.

Speaker3: [00:49:33] This is, you know, that's how we do what we do every week. We always have these these fun family games.

Speaker5: [00:49:38] It was getting kind of boring, but for some reason, I think it'll be entertaining tonight.

Speaker3: [00:49:43] Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker2: [00:49:47] Grover. Roman.

Speaker3: [00:49:50] Get off the street, Grover. You're out of your trash can.

Speaker2: [00:49:54] I've been looking through the window. Yeah.

Speaker6: [00:49:57] Finally. You guys call me back in. I'm already out of that ten grand you gave me.

Speaker5: [00:50:01] I knew it. I knew you would never make it.

Speaker6: [00:50:04] Cufflinks. Cufflinks. Look at these cufflinks.

Speaker2: [00:50:07] Oh.

Speaker3: [00:50:08] Wow. Oh, those made out of bottle caps.

Speaker6: [00:50:12] They are made out of bottle caps, but they're Italian bottle caps. About each one for $5,000.

Speaker2: [00:50:17] Oh, that's cool.

Speaker3: [00:50:20] He's a smart one right now.

Speaker2: [00:50:23] That's me. Bottle caps. That's not a big deal. That's kind of collectible. Oh, that's going to appreciate your valuable things. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Hey, Mom. Dad, I just.

Speaker6: [00:50:34] Wanted to say I've been thinking about stuff.

Speaker2: [00:50:36] Tell us.

Speaker6: [00:50:36] And I'm really sorry. You know, I mean, I think I've been reckless with not only your possessions, but also with your hearts. And I want to say that whatever I can do to put myself back in your good graces, I want to do it regardless of any self interest. I just feel like you guys could either die at any moment. You guys are old. You're pretty.

Speaker2: [00:51:01] Old and.

Speaker6: [00:51:03] I want to enjoy and make the most out of every minute I have with you.

Speaker3: [00:51:07] Oh, that's beautiful. That's beautiful.

Speaker2: [00:51:10] It's beautiful.

Speaker3: [00:51:11] I'm just going to open up this Google doc right now. Here we go. I'm just going to open up this.

Speaker2: [00:51:15] Google doc right now. Whatever. Let's.

Speaker3: [00:51:19] Let's get Roman in here, too, so he can update.

Speaker5: [00:51:22] I haven't changed the document.

Speaker2: [00:51:23] The Google doc right now. Okay.

Speaker5: [00:51:24] I want Gruber to have everything.

Speaker2: [00:51:26] All right? Okay. I'm going to.

Speaker3: [00:51:30] I'm updating it right now.

Speaker5: [00:51:32] Everything to him. Everything.

Speaker3: [00:51:34] Everything to Grover.

Speaker2: [00:51:35] All the.

Speaker5: [00:51:37] Oh, you're always my favorite. I never liked Roman. When I was close to him, he was pinching me on the way out like that. To me, you were my favorite.

Speaker2: [00:51:50] Oh, and I always had a feeling. And I am hitting.

Speaker3: [00:51:58] Print on.

Speaker2: [00:51:59] The Google doc. That is.

Speaker3: [00:52:02] Final. I'm going to print that out, and I'm going to sign it right.

Speaker2: [00:52:05] Now.

Speaker5: [00:52:07] And let me.

Speaker2: [00:52:08] Know. Oh, my.

Speaker5: [00:52:10] Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Speaker2: [00:52:12] Yeah, right.

Speaker5: [00:52:13] Honey.

Speaker2: [00:52:14] No. Right. Oh, God. Oh, my God.

Speaker5: [00:52:18] Roman in here. We know CPR.

Speaker2: [00:52:20] Well, then.

Speaker5: [00:52:23] Robin, no doubt, is dying. Give him CPR.

Speaker2: [00:52:26] Quickly. Okay. Okay.

Speaker4: [00:52:29] First thing you need to do is look at the.

Speaker5: [00:52:32] No, the will doesn't matter. Save your father's.

Speaker2: [00:52:34] Life. Most importantly, in a moment like this. Sign it first. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Speaker4: [00:52:41] We need a pen. Who's got a pen?

Speaker5: [00:52:44] Name p r. Please save my husband.

Speaker2: [00:52:49] Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:52:49] The piece that stands for Pen. I need one.

Speaker5: [00:52:52] There you go, sweetie. Here you go. Here's a.

Speaker2: [00:52:53] Pen. Okay. Oh, wait, wait. Save your father. Hi.

Speaker4: [00:52:57] I'm not in.

Speaker2: [00:52:58] This will go over Bitcoin. Yeah.

Speaker4: [00:53:02] Yeah. Oh, my. You write my name right here.

Speaker2: [00:53:06] What is it?

Speaker5: [00:53:07] No, Please don't die.

Speaker2: [00:53:10] It's horrible.

Speaker4: [00:53:11] I'm not in the will. This is a real tragedy and scene.

Speaker3: [00:53:17] Well, that brings us to the end of this week's legal voyage. And I want to thank you for joining me, your captain, on this earmark edition of Laying Down the Law. I'd like to thank my crew, Pia, J. And Griffin for joining me on today's Journey into Madness. And listener, I'd like to thank you for coming.

Speaker2: [00:53:37] Along with us.

Speaker3: [00:53:38] Wherever you are, you're also here while you're there via the magic of earmarks. Cpe. I'd also like to thank the OG cello performance CPA Blake Oliver for building earmarked CPE the mighty little app.

Speaker2: [00:53:52] That makes learning fun and free. Mostly free. But now you can subscribe. Isn't that right, Blake? That's right, Billy.

Speaker3: [00:54:01] And speaking of mighty, thank you to the mighty Q Quentin Fichtner for the mighty cover Art.

Speaker2: [00:54:07] Thank you for the opportunity, Billy.

Speaker5: [00:54:10] And if you listeners want some cool art of your own, you can find me my pro dot com.

Speaker3: [00:54:15] Thank you to David Felton for creating the awesome all original music. And a special thank you to Jeff at Fichtner Productions.

Speaker2: [00:54:25] Hey, that's me. Yes, Jeff, that is you. Thank you, Jeff, for making a little boy's radio show.

Speaker3: [00:54:34] Dreams into a Middle Aged Man's Podcast's Reality.

Speaker2: [00:54:40] So until next time. Wait.

Speaker1: [00:54:42] What's this? You forgot.

Speaker2: [00:54:43] Something. What's that? I forgot something you say?

Speaker1: [00:54:46] Yeah. You got to do the thing. You know the.

Speaker2: [00:54:48] Thing. Oh, right. If you want even more of that delicious little.

Speaker3: [00:54:55] Nut butter drenched in comedy chocolate.

Speaker2: [00:54:57] Find the full version.

Speaker5: [00:54:58] Of this and every amazing episode of laying down the.

Speaker2: [00:55:02] Law at dotcom or wherever in the.

Speaker3: [00:55:05] Metaverse, you get your podcasts.

Speaker1: [00:55:07] That's fit. E procom. Find your productions is not responsible for the preceding comments related to nut butter. If you or someone you know experiences nausea, third eye blindness, sudden onset euphoria, or have an unrelenting craving for ham, seek help immediately. Laying down the law is protected by the Intergalactic Treaty of Euripides. Start 82182190. If you'd like a transcript of the show, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Colonel Steve Austin Karev, the Foundation for Law and Government. Two, two, one A Baker Street, Beverly Hills 90210. Any likeness to real places, persons or events is absolutely happenstance. We'd never intentionally crib real life happenings to make a podcast. We're not true crime, after all. It's more likely a situation similar to the chimpanzees, typewriters and Shakespeare. Right? That's what attorney Steve says anyway. And if you know what's good for a you listen to Attorney Steve. I don't argue with attorney Steve mostly because he ain't right in the head and quite honestly frightens me a little bit. The last time we went to court, the judge started asking him all kinds of weird questions, like, where did you study law and why hasn't the state bar of California ever heard of you? Then attorney Steve started doing this weird, deep breathing meditation kind of thing and muttering under his breath about a monster drug fight and how the judge ain't got nothing on a £15,000, 2000 horsepower, fire breathing death cage on wheels, and then the L.A. Heat running with his taser. And honestly, that's the truth. Steve, come with me. It was only traffic, for God's sake.

Speaker2: [00:56:22] I totally parked.

[00:56:22] In the loading dock and I.