Asset Protection Planning
Liability insurance isn't enough in this day of aggressive creditors and frivolous lawsuits. Don't be a soft target.
Whether you are a doctor, business owner, real estate investor, or other hard working professional, all of your success is at risk from catastrophic legal judgments, future creditors, potential divorce, and other financial crises. By creating the right strategy and safeguards, we can help you legally and ethically protect your wealth and your business by minimizing the risk that creditors or aggressive litigants ("predators") can take your hard earned assets.
They Don't Care If You Are Innocent
Creditors and predators are not looking for justice - they are looking for "deep pockets." Ask any attorney familiar with civil lawsuits and he or she will admit that the decision to target you with a lawsuit doesn't necessarily hinge on whether the case can be won - it hinges on the case's "settlement value." That is - how much you'll be willing to pay just to "get it over with" so you can get on with your life.
Plaintiffs' lawyers and their investigators are masters at finding your assets and calculating exactly how much they can squeeze from you. Don't make the mistake of assuming your malpractice or liability insurance is enough – generally your policy limits are the starting point for calculating the amount of damages! To creditors and predators, your insurance coverage is "free money" and your personal assets are the real goal. After all – the harder they come after you, the more pressure they put on you to settle before going to trial- and remember - it is often about "settlement value," not winning the case!
All Is Not Lost
Our asset protection planning structures the ownership of your assets to make it difficult or impossible for others to take them away. Of course, no asset protection plan is guaranteed to be 100% bulletproof, but we are confident that this planning will be very successful in making you a "hard target" with a low "settlement value." This can reduce creditor and predator threats - or even eliminate them before they appear.
The peace of mind asset protection planning can provide is priceless.
Legal and Ethical Asset Protection
Proper asset protection planning is completely legal and entirely ethical. There is absolutely no attempt to hide assets, evade taxes, or permit criminal activity. All planning is done using well established, legal means explicitly provided for under federal and state law. In fact, it is these very laws that provide the protection you are seeking.
To illustrate the point, consider this... If you were to start a new business, you would likely set up a corporation or limited liability company to protect yourself from personal liability for the debts and activities of the business. Not only is this the smart thing to do, but it is clearly both legal and ethical becasue corporations and LLCs exist specifically to provide this type of protection. In a similar fashion, asset protection planning utilizes the provisions of trust, partnership, tax, civil procedure, and creditor/debtor law to give your hard earned assets the greatest possible protection from creditors and predators. To put it another way, corporations (and other such tools) protect you from your troubled assets. Asset protection plans protect your assets from your troubles.
Asset protection strategies vary on the type and location of the property you own, but include:
- Domestic asset protection trusts
- Limited liability business structures
- Equity strips
- Exempt asset protections under state law
- Foreign situs trusts
- Proper use of life insurance, annuities, and IRAs and qualified pans
- Transfers to family members or trusted third parties
Remember, once a claim is made against you, it will be far too late to protect yourself. You must act now, before creditors or predators target you. Contact us now to schedule a free consultation to discuss how legal asset protection strategies can be tailored for your personal situation.