A Case Is Won, But Fight Goes On

Yesterday, Novevember 8, 2007, I received a Supreme Court order in a "bloody" inheritance case-- thicker blood is spilt in a case between blood relatives. For me as the lawyer, this one spells and smells victory with finality. It took all of 17 years of in-fighting among the heirs,--topped by the young step-mother, the surviving wife of the decesed whose estate has been the subject of the squabbe--the moneyed & powerful people who connived with the erring heirs, "blinded by the estate by the sea that gleams under the hot summer sun", the register of deeds and the lawyers, even the fake notaries who conspired in the fraudulent dispositon of big portions of the decedent's estate.

I recall the most poignant scene during the trial. During direct eexamination, when asked how the fraudulent acts of the other heirs affected her, the plaintiff who filed the case to recover the estate of her father replied: More than losing the estate, more than losing my share, the most painful part is losing my roots. How could I ever come home again, knowing that some of my brothers and sisters have sold our family homes, estate, heirloomss. That's a whole family memory of growing together in love & harmony, in sound family values and affection, going down the drain, with a few pieces of dirty silver. How could I come home to a memory tarnished by greed and betrayal?

It was beyond everyone's expectation that the Regional Trial Court, the Court of Appeals and all the way to the Supreme Court restored everything back to the estate, penalized the buyers in bad faith by forfeiting everything-- every cunning cent paid the scheming heirs, every dazzling piece of improvement done in bad faith.

In a divine twist of fortune, the erring heirs are blessed with the impending rcovery of what they had sold in betrayal of the estate. They just stood there, while the aggrtieved heirs fought in grief to restore the father's estate, the integrity of the family and the memory he built for his family.

Now, the aggrieved heirs who have found justice, are back to a muddled square one. The scheming heirs are expecting their share in the inheritance which they once sold without regards for the rights of the co-heirs. And now, they have turned more demanding. And vicious! The victorious heirs are ready to give it to them with charity and generosity, and in honor of their parents who have loved them all. But the cheating and selling heirs have been sharpening their tools and positioning themselves once again! The better, to extract more from the estate they had once bastardized.

I now propose to mediate. I know I would need no longer the positive human law but the wisdom of Solomon, in this new task. And the blessing of the Divine Mediator.