When creating your estate plan, you may consider asset protection planning. You can maintain control over how your assets are used after your death. In addition, asset protection planning best ensures that your loved ones are able to hold on to these assets, even during difficult times.
What can asset protection do?
Asset protection can allow you to keep the assets you pass to your loved ones safe. With asset protection, you won’t have to worry about losing important assets during life’s many challenges.
Asset protection can be used to protect your assets during your lifetime as well as after your death, when they’re distributed to your loved ones.
- Lifetime asset protection for yourself typically consists of good insurance planning and appropriate entity formation for business ventures.
- Asset protection for your loved ones typically consists of the creation of asset protected trust shares.
Why should I protect the assets that I leave behind to my loved ones?
You never know when your loved ones may be involved in an unfortunate situation. For example, divorce is becoming ever more common. If you’re leaving behind assets to your son or daughter, you likely want to make sure that these assets won’t be taken during the divorce process.
Bankruptcy and lawsuits are other common issues that may arise. During bankruptcy, all of your loved one’s assets may be taken. Lawsuits may include malpractice claims, slip and falls, car accidents, business failure, medical crisis, and the like.
Where to Get Help
If you want to make sure that your assets go to the right people, you should discuss asset protection planning techniques. If you have any questions, or if you’d like to include asset protection planning in your estate plan, consult with a qualified estate planning attorney.
John’s practice focuses on the use of Wills and Living Trusts in Estate Planning to help individuals protect their families and preserve their legacies after their deaths, but his practice also focuses on the critical issues of protecting individuals with dementia or other diminished capacity, assisting individuals in qualifying for Medicaid and other government benefits to offset the costs of long-term care, and providing special needs planning.
John is admitted to practice law in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Ohio, and he is accredited by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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