March Madness is a glorious time of year for most American’s. We all,
albeit unsuccessfully, fill out our brackets with the hopes of winning our
office pools, sometimes cheer on the underdogs even though it would be a
bracket buster just because they deserve to win, and we enjoy the quality
company of our family and friends, which is most important. A story emerged a
few days ago that legendary coach, Dean Smith, left each of his varsity letter
players $200 for “dinner out”. What a nice jester. An important lesson can be
learned from this nice gift. It does not take a large sum of money to make
large number of people smile. $36,000 worth of checks were sent to the 180
varsity letter players during his over three decade career at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
While $36,000 is a large amount to handout, the joy of spreading that to
180 past varsity players is the crux of this story. Estate planning is a great
opportunity to make people smile. The amount does not need to be large, but the
thought is what counts. Coach Dean Smith could have easily forgotten about the
players he coached but, because of the bequest, great memories are revived for
the 180 varsity players. Basic estate planning is a great opportunity to direct
how items from your estate will be directed once you pass. This is not limited
to money, but also personal belonging such as photos, family heirlooms,
jewelry, etc. To take care of your basic or complex estate planning needs,
contact Adam Bullock with Ratliff Law Firm today at (865) 932-3441 ext. 706.
This is not
intended to be legal advice and does not form an attorney-client relationship
with any reader.
