Jeff Fouts: “Estate planning attorney, Jeff Fouts, here. As I’ve said in the past, there are lots of things that can potentially negatively impact you and your estate today or down the road that you may not have thought about.
You may say, “Well, Jeff, those things will probably never happen to me,” and you’re right. Some of those things may very well never happen to you. But if they do happen to you, you may pay a very heavy price for not having thought it through and prepared adequately beforehand.
For example, lawsuits. Lawsuits may never happen to you, your children or grandchildren, but you better believe they happen to some people out there in the world. Auto accidents, bankruptcies. Let’s talk about one of my clients. Before he hired me, he had an auto accident and we were talking together. He may very well live in you4 neighborhood in a house right next to you.
He said, ‘Jeff, I got up one morning, and I was thinking what I was going to do that day and about running my errands. Then, boom, next thing you know, I had an auto accident. I wasn’t thinking about that. I didn’t mean to hurt these people,’ but he did hurt them. He hurt them pretty bad. He was going to have to pay a lot of money for the injuries he caused to them. He had automobile insurance, and the insurance was going to cover a big piece of the damages he caused, but not nearly all of it.
He said to me, ‘Jeff, the insurance isn’t going to cover about $500,000 (a half million dollars) of the damages.’ Then he said, ‘If that’s all I have to write a check for, I’ll be grateful that it’s not more than that.’
I’ll ask you a question. How many of you would be grateful and think it was a good day if all you had to do was to cut a check for half million dollars? I mean, this is serious. These things do not simply go away on their own if they arise. You and your loved ones don’t get protected against these and other things without taking prudent action beforehand. Asset protection is a very important consideration in having good quality estate and financial planning.
Talking about risks to a person’s life savings and estate – how many older people do you know who voluntarily give up their car keys when they are older and can’t drive as well as they used to? Very few. They’re stubborn. They don’t want to give them up. It is a very serious thing that can endanger your life savings and your estate. If we could ever help you, just give us a call. Thank you.”
