A common misconception is that only wealthy families and people in high risk professions need to have an asset protection plan. But in reality, anyone can be sued. A car accident, foreclosure, unpaid medical bills, or an injured tenant can result in a monetary judgment that will decimate your finances.
What Exactly Is Asset Protection Planning?
Asset protection planning is the use of legal structures and strategies to safeguard property that creditors might snatch away, by completely, or, at the very least, partially, protecting it from the creditor’s reach.
Unfortunately, this type of planning cannot be done as a quick fix for your existing legal problems. In fact, if you transfer assets to shield them from existing creditors, it could be considered a fraudulent transfer, resulting in legal penalties. Instead, you must put an asset protection plan in place before a lawsuit is imminent, let alone filed at the courthouse. So, now is the time to consider implementing one or more of these tips.
Below are three tips that you can use right now to protect your assets from creditors, predators, and lawsuits.
Asset Protection Tip #1 – Load Up on Liability Insurance
The first line of defense is insurance, including homeowner’s, automobile, business, professional, malpractice, long-term care, and umbrella policies. Liability insurance not only provides a means to pay money damages, it often includes payment of all or part of the legal fees associated with a lawsuit. If you do not have an umbrella policy, then now is the time to get one, since it is relatively inexpensive compared with more advanced ways to protect your assets. You should also check all of your current insurance policies to determine if your policy limits are in line with your net worth and make adjustments as appropriate. You should then review all of your policies on an annual basis to confirm that the coverage is still adequate and the benefits have not been stripped to maintain the same premiums.
Asset Protection Tip #2 – Maximize Contributions to Your 401(k) or IRA
Under federal law, tax-favored retirement accounts, including 401(k)s and IRAs (but excluding inherited IRAs), are protected from creditors in bankruptcy (with certain limitations). Therefore, maximizing contributions to your company’s 401(k) plan is not only a smart way to increase your retirement savings, but it will also safeguard the investments from creditors, predators, and lawsuits. On the other hand, if your company does not offer a 401(k) plan, then start investing in an IRA for the same reasons.
Asset Protection Tip #3 – Move Rental or Investment Real Estate into an LLC
If you are a landlord or a real estate flipper or investor, then aside from having good liability insurance, moving your real estate into a limited liability company (LLC) can be a great way to help protect your assets from creditors, predators, and lawsuits.
There are two types of liability that you should be concerned about with rental or investment property: (1) inside liability (where the rental or investment property is the source of the liability, like a slip and fall on the property, and the creditor wants to seize an LLC member’s personal assets) and (2) outside liability (where the creditor of an LLC owner wants to seize LLC assets to satisfy the member’s debt).
An LLC will limit your inside liability related to the real estate, such as a slip and fall accident or a fire caused by faulty wiring, to the value of the property. In addition, in many states, the outside creditor of the member of an LLC cannot get their hands on the member’s ownership interest in the company (in some states, this will only work for multi-member LLCs, while in others, it will also work for a single member LLC). At a maximum, the outside creditor would only be entitled to the member’s share of the distributions and would have no voting or management rights.This type of outside creditor protection is often referred to as “charging order” protection. This means that if properly protected, a creditor will have to look to your liability insurance and any unprotected assets to collect on their claim, not the LLC.
If you are interested in asset protection planning for your investment real estate using an LLC, then you will need to work with an attorney who understands the LLC laws of the state where your property is located to insure that your LLC will protect you from both inside and outside liability.
Asset Protection Tip #4 – Use More Sophisticated Asset Protection Planning
There are a few advanced asset protection planning techniques that are legal ways to protect the hard-earned assets that you own.
You can use an investment entity such as Family Limited Partnerships or Family LLC’s which use state laws allowing what is called charging order protection as a way to protect the assets or investments owned by these entities.
Domestic Asset Protection Trusts, are created using the state laws of one of the several states that allows this such as Nevada or Alaska. These types of trusts are fairly new, but have gained momentum in recent years as a legitimate way to protect ones assets from creditors under the right circumstances.
Finally, there is a Foreign Asset Protection Trust, which uses the laws of a foreign country such as Belize or the Cook Islands to protect assets.
All of these advanced techniques take a much more sophisticated law firm or attorney to implement. Much analysis and care should be taken when considering these solutions. It is important to work with an attorney of law firm that has experience with all levels of asset protection planning when considering this type of planning.
You have worked hard to accumulate the assets you have. Don’t let a lawsuit take it all away from you. Give us a call today so we can evaluate your situation and craft an asset protection plan that best serves you and your family.
