Have you thought about whether your assets are protected against bankruptcy, lawsuit, divorce, and other risks? If not, then you could be at risk of losing everything. You can spend a lifetime building wealth. The foundation of financial stability is usually built that way, one brick at a time over many years. The problem is that nothing built by human hands lasts without careful attention and maintenance over time. Your wealth is no different. No matter how much you earn, save, or invest, your estate can never be truly safe and secure without a conscious effort to make it that way. It only takes one lawsuit or bankruptcy to bring all your hard work crashing down around you. Fortunately, there are ways to protect your estate, provided that you take the time to learn the top asset protection strategies in Kentucky. Our Florence asset protection attorney can help.
What are Asset Protection Strategies?
Asset protection strategies are plans that are designed to shield assets, limit liability, and protect wealth. A true strategy for asset protection will typically involve a variety of different liability limiting and estate planning tools that leverage existing legal protections to reduce or eliminate risks to your assets. There are different kinds of asset protection strategies, of course, and each is tailored to provide a different type of protection for specific asset types.
How Do These Asset Protection Strategies Work?
There are certain assets that represent a greater degree of risk than others, and these protection strategies tend to be designed to shield assets from those specific risks. For example, business properties, rental properties, and vehicles owned by companies are all asset types that can increase your risk of being the target of a lawsuit. In each instance, however, the assets in question have corresponding legal provisions that can be leveraged to minimize those risks by shielding you from liability.
If you own your business and are operating it as a sole proprietorship, that business may be placing your personal assets at risk since there is nothing separating you from the business. Without that separation, your personal assets are no different than those owned by the company, since you and the company are legally one entity. One asset protection strategy that you could use to shield yourself from lawsuits involves organizing the business as a Limited Liability Company – or LLC. That can create a legal wall of separation between you and the business that places your personal assets out of reach of anyone who might sue the business in the future.
Who Really Needs Asset Protection?
When most people think about asset protection, or liability reduction strategies, they automatically think of professionals like doctors who might be vulnerable to malpractice suits or other legal actions. That can lead some people to assume that lawsuits, creditor actions, and even divorce are things that just happen to other people. As a result, you might wonder who besides those at-risk individuals would ever actually need this sort of protection.
The short answer is that you need asset protection. If you own property, a business, a car, or even investments, you should consider some type of asset protection plan. After all, it only takes one person suffering an accident on your property for you to suddenly face the threat of losing everything due to an injury suit. If you want to shield yourself from liability and protect your wealth, you must have some sort of strategy in place to protect yourself. Let our Florence asset protection attorney help you get on the right track.
Are These Strategies Legal?
Not only are these types of strategies legal, but the lawmakers who passed the laws providing these protection opportunities intended for you to protect yourself. The fact is that we live in a litigious society, and there are people who will file suit for almost any perceived offense. In that environment, no man’s property could ever be considered safe without some way to legally reduce liability. Legislators have codified these liability protections to ensure that people have a chance to protect certain property from seizure during legal disputes.
Consider Using Asset Protection Trusts
Trusts can keep your assets out of reach of creditors and litigants, provided that you set them up properly. To provide true protection, your trust must be irrevocable, must contain a spendthrift clause, and must contain terms that leave distributions to the discretion of the trustee. Of course, the very best asset protection strategy involves consulting with an experienced estate planning attorney in Kentucky. He or she will be able to help you evaluate your assets and liability risks, and then determine the best options for providing each asset the protection it needs. Relying on the professional assistance of our Florence asset protection attorney can help you to avoid gaps in your protection that might leave your entire estate at-risk for loss.
Join us for a free seminar today! If you have questions regarding asset protection or any other estate planning matters, please contact the experienced attorneys at The Potter Law Firm for a consultation. You can contact us either online or by calling us at (606) 324-5516 (Ashland, KY) or at (859) 372-6655 (Florence, KY) or for individuals in North Carolina at (704) 944-3245 (Charlotte, NC, and Huntersville, NC).
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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