Neel Shah

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Attorney Neel Shah of the law firm of Shah & Associates, P.C. (www.LawEsq.net) explains:

- What is Probate?
- Should I try to avoid Probate with my Estate Plan?
- How can i avoid Probate?

For Blog subscription, visit here: http://lawesq.net/blog/
For More information about the firm & Neel Shah, visit here: http://lawesq.net/

Attorney Neel Shah of Shah & Associates, P.C. (www.LawEsq.net) explains:

- What is an Estate?
- What is an Estate Plan?
- Who needs an Estate Plan?

For Blog subscription, visit here: http://lawesq.net/blog/
For More information about the firm & Neel Shah, visit here: http://lawesq.net/meet-neel/

Hi, I’m Neel Shah and I’m an attorney that helps you protect your family, your business, and your legacy – the things that matter the most to you. I was driving the other day, and I came across a sign for a home for sale. They described the home as an estate home, and it conjured up an image that the builder wanted to conjure up for me. That is this large, manorly home, which probably had a couple of guard dogs in the front, big fences and white pillars leading up, and probably a butler named Jeeves answering the door. And I thought to myself, “I’m an estate planning attorney,” and it conjured up the image that the builder wanted it to conjure up for me.

So how about everybody out there that doesn’t know what an estate really is or what an estate-planning attorney is? If it conjured up the image for me, it’s definitely doing the same thing for them. So what exactly is an estate? And for that matter what exactly is an estate plan?

To know what an estate is, follow this mental exercise with me. Think of everything that you own. That could include your home, your bank accounts, your IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, any life insurance, death benefit that would be paid out when you pass away. Take all of these things that you own, put them into this mental bucket. During a lifetime when you own these things, they are your assets. When you pass away and they move onto the next person, it’s your estate – that’s really all an estate is – it’s the stuff that you owned at the time that you passed away.

What’s an estate plan? Well it’s a plan that you put into place before you died or become disabled, which specifies who’s going to get your assets, now your estate. It’s also a mechanism that allows you to dictate when they’re going to receive it and how they’re going to receive this stuff after you have passed away, when it’s done properly.

So, who exactly needs an estate plan? Is it the extremely wealthy? Is it the moderately wealthy? And the answer is no. The answer to, “Who needs an estate plan” is basically anybody who wants to dictate what they’re going to give, when these people are going to receive it, and the manner in which it’s going to be received it, whether it’s to say about estate taxes, to help protect somebody’s disability benefits, and to provide some asset protection. If any of these goals are important to you, well then that’s what we’re talking about when we say you need an estate plan.

My name is Neel Shah. I’m with the Law Firm of Shah & Associates. Thank you for listening.