Jeff Fouts: “This is estate planning attorney Jeff Fouts with the Fouts Law Group. I had a lady one time asked me, she said, ‘Jeff, you’ve been discussing estate plan and that people need an estate plan. But do I really need an estate plan?’
I finally understood what was bothering her. The thing that was bothering her was the word I was using, ‘estate planning’. The word ‘estate’ seems like a such a fancy, rich sounding word. A word that might only apply to a Manhattan millionaire, but it’s really not a fancy word. The word just happens to be a very, very old word that goes back to Old England.
The word ‘estate’ simply means your stuff, your assets and belongings. When you die, if you have some stuff and you want your stuff to go into a particular way to certain people, then you need a stuff plan, an estate plan. That’s really all the word ‘estate’ means. It’s not complicated.
The word ‘estate’ is just one example of other words used in estate planning, for example, grantor, trustee, beneficiary, that go back to Old England where most of estate planning originated. These words may sound fancy, but they just sound that way because they’re old.
If we can ever help you, if you ever want us to review your estate plan to make sure it’s actually going to work, just let us know. Thank you.”
