Legally Mine Advice on Asset Protection Lawyers

In our lawsuit landscape, every business owner knows they need good insurance as well as a good attorney on their side. However, with the loopholes in today’s laws, these two things may not be enough to protect your personal assets from being seized if you’re sued. 

That’s why you need to take asset protection seriously. Legally Mine provides asset protection advice that you can use to get the protection you deserve.

What is Asset Protection?

Asset protection is an umbrella term that covers the concept of and strategies involved in guarding one’s wealth, typically from lawsuits or creditor claims. 

Asset protection strategies include:

• Forming proper business entities
• Using asset protection trusts
• Having jointly-held property
• Meeting annual requirements to keep legal protections in place
• Purchasing a comprehensive insurance policy
• Avoiding scams

There are many other asset protection strategies that can be employed to protect yourself, but knowing the ins and outs of the law and putting it all properly in place can be nearly impossible without the help of an experienced asset protection attorney.

Why is it Important to Have an Attorney Who Specializes in Asset Protection?

“Why can’t my own attorney provide me with asset protection advice?”

The question is common, and the answer is that it requires unique specialization to be able to offer full protection. Attorneys often stretch their knowledge to cover a wide set of laws in many different categories. However, asset protection requires considerable time and attention to learn the intricacies and complexities in one specific area in order to achieve maximum protection. 

Many business owners don’t realize that most any lawsuit can cause their personal assets to be up for grabs. They can include:

• Creditor Claims: This can come from any debtor claiming you owe them money.
• Contract Claims: This is a supposed breaking (or breach) of an oral or written agreement.
• Property Disputes: These arise from property ownership, land, boundaries, trees, noise, etc.
• Discrimination or Harassment: A claim alleging unequal treatment based on a legally protected characteristic such as disability, age, gender, race, religious affiliation, etc.
• Tort or Personal Injury Claims: This includes harm caused by negligence, defective products, malpractice, etc.
• Family Law Cases: This includes divorce, child custody and support, property distribution, etc.

As you can see, protecting all your assets for all of these scenarios can get complicated and confusing. Having a Legally Mine asset protection attorney on your side will help you to be completely covered for any unfortunate occasion that may arise throughout the duration of your estate.   

Contact Legally Mine for More Asset Protection Advice

Even though lawsuits are so common in the U.S. and businesses need asset protection, few attorneys specialize in asset protection. Because of that, the ones who do charge exorbitant rates for their services. 

However, Legally Mine has offered expert guidance in asset protection for over 40 years and our volume of clients allows us to charge much less, even though our experience is second to none. We are willing to invest the time and effort required to get you the asset protection you need to keep your financial worth in your own hands.

Learn more about how Legally Mine can help you protect your assets!

Asset Protection: Achieving Financial Freedom and Peace of Mind in Stressful Times

Earning money is difficult enough. But if you’re earning a lot as a high-income professional

or by running a business, the game isn’t just about earning money. It’s about keeping

money. It’s about asset protection. 

Asset protection can make you confident that you’re going to be able to take care of

yourself and your family. You’ll have assets that stick around even during a financial disaster,

during a personal injury, or during a lawsuit.

With the right asset preservation strategies and team, your assets can be diversified,

protected, and out of the reach of certain creditors and lawsuits. Below are a few of

the possibilities.

Diversify Your Products

The first strategy to understand is true diversification. Many people think they’re

diversified because they own some different mutual funds. But that’s not what we’re

discussing. 

You’re truly diversified when you have a plan involving multiple products and services

that all work to preserve your assets. That’s not just mutual funds! A good plan can include: 

Life insurance

• Liability, property, and casualty insurance
  
  
  
• Corporate entities (like LLCs)
  
  
  
• An IRA or other retirement accounts
  
  
  
• Tax-minimization strategies
  
  
  
• Trusts
  
  
  
• And more
  
  
  

Look at that list. You can understand why a key part of any plan is paying for excellent

advice. You can always get free advice on the Internet, but it may not get you the results

you want! Find a trusted team that can set up a winning mix of products and services for you.

Transferring Assets to Trusts and Entities

Trust funds are not about spoiling rich kids. They are about protecting your wealth from

predatory lawsuits and other actions that can target your assets. 

A major step in asset protection is taking assets out of your own name. During a legal

proceeding, certain exempt assets can’t be touched. But non-exempt assets that are in

your name can be taken away to pay debts or judgments. 

If you don’t have your name on non-exempt assets, though, they’re much less likely to be

targeted. A good asset protection team can help you move certain valuable assets into

the control and name of legal entities, such as LLCs.

When an LLC owns your asset, a lawsuit directed at the owner of the asset can only target

the LLC and the assets it holds. If someone was hurt at your LLC-owned property, for

example, that person could only sue the LLC, not you personally. 

You can also transfer certain assets out of your control into an asset protection trust,

which is a type of irrevocable trust. That way, a creditor or lawsuit plaintiff can’t access those

assets, because they’re legally governed by the trust, not by you—even if you’re the

beneficiary of the trust.

Get the Right Professional Help

It takes experience and professional knowledge to set up LLCs, trusts, certain insurance policies, and other asset preservation products. Make sure your asset protection plan is set up the right way, to give you financial peace of mind. Contact Legally Mine today to learn more.

Are Asset Protection Trusts Legal? Find out from Legally Mine

To answer the question right off the bat, yes. Asset protections are 100% legal when created correctly and used properly.

Now that we have that out of the way, you need to know that having an asset protection trust will protect your wealth from future creditors, allowing you to pass your personal property on to loved ones as stated in your will.

Here, Legally Mine answers more of your important questions about asset protection trusts.

How Does an Asset Protection Trust Work?

An asset protection trust is created by a grantor who signs a trust document and transfers assets into the trust. This transfer to the trust is permanent and irrevocable, and cannot be changed by the grantor. This is key for shielding the assets from future creditors.

If created properly, the assets in the trust are unreachable and unusable other than for trustee-approved discretionary payments of income and/or principal from the trust.

Who Needs an Asset Protection Trust?

If you don’t expect any risk of future creditors, you may not need an asset protection trust. However, there are some circumstances that put your assets at risk.

You will want an asset protection trust if you:

• Think you may experience a future personal injury lawsuit

• Work as a high-risk professional such as a lawyer, doctor, dentist, architect, builder, real estate developer, accountant, or executive

• Own a business

What Should You Consider When Creating an Asset Protection Trust?

There are five things you should consider when creating an asset protection trust:

1.    Potential Future Creditors: Keep in mind that some states require a waiting period from the time you create a trust for it to take effect. 

2.    Which State You Want to Govern Your Trust: You don’t necessarily have to reside in the state that allows trusts.

3.     Your Trustee: Choose an individual or corporate trustee who resides in the state where the trust is created.

4.    Which Assets You Want Protected: You may have to move assets to the state in which the trust is created. This is easy with cash, stocks, or bonds. It is not possible with real estate.

5.     Access to Funds: Do you want payments from the trust? Do you want other members of your family to be eligible for discretionary distributions from the trust?

When Won’t an Asset Protection Trust Work?

There are a couple of instances when an asset protection trust won’t work. First, while asset protection trusts are legal in many states, not all states allow all forms of them. This is because some people could use these trusts to wrongfully avoid creditors. Second, some creditors will be able to reach your assets even with an asset protection trust.

For example:

• Family Obligations (child support, spousal support, and alimony)
• Taxes
• Necessary services or supplies (medical services, etc.)
• Some court judgments against the grantor

Learn More from Legally Mine

Legally Mine is a specialty firm which has been helping medical and business professionals protect their assets for over 40 years. Our experience is second to none, so when you have questions or concerns regarding your assets and how to keep them safe, you can trust our advice.

Learn more about asset protection from Legally Mine!