Jeff Fouts: “Jeff Fouts here, estate planning attorney. When I talk to people, I often use the following phrase: family money. The money, or estate, that you have that you’ve worked so very hard for is what I call family money. Now, when you die, your money, your estate I know, I get it, is going to go down to your children.
I know that your children have their own stuff. They have their own house, maybe their own checking, savings, life insurance, and retirement money. I understand that. What I’m talking about for your money is, I’m going to call it family money.
Most of my clients, actually about all of them, want the same thing for the family money, and that is that when it goes on down to the children, that it have the most positive effect for the longest period of time for the people they love.
You say, ‘Why is that a top priority?’ Well, I’ll ask you, ‘What happens if after you die you had $100,000, $200,000, go somewhere that it wasn’t supposed to, out of the family? Would that be a big deal?’
I jokingly say, ‘How long does it take to earn $100,000 or $200,000? Two, three, four, or six months?’ Obviously, I’m being very facetious. It takes a lot longer to earn that kind of money after tax.
Money is very important. We shouldn’t just say, ‘Oh, well, Jeff, I don’t really care how my estate goes.’ We must give thought to it if we want an estate plan in place that will actually work. Thank you.”
