• Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow


9990 Coconut Road, Suite 342, Bonita Springs, FL 34135



(239) 498-6999

  • Home
  • Attorney Profile
  • Practice Areas
    • Estate & Trust Planning
    • Probate, Estate & Trust Administration
    • Asset / Creditor Protection Planning
    • Business Planning
    • Wealth Transfer Planning
  • Testimonials
  • About Us
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Events
    • Newsletters
    • Video FAQS
  • Contact Us
Casey Law Group
  • Home
  • Attorney Profile
  • Practice Areas
    • Estate & Trust Planning
    • Probate, Estate & Trust Administration
    • Asset / Creditor Protection Planning
    • Business Planning
    • Wealth Transfer Planning
  • Testimonials
  • About Us
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Events
    • Newsletters
    • Video FAQS
  • Contact Us

Which Asset Protection Strategies Are Right for Your Clients?

How You Can Keep Claims From Threatening Their Property

Most of us do not expect to be sued. However, lawsuits are filed every day the courthouses are open. If your clients’ estate plans don’t include adequate asset protection, they could end up losing a substantial amount of their wealth in the event of a claim – even a “frivolous” one.

It’s well worth talking to your clients about what asset protection strategies their current plan includes. Many existing plans may need a revamp, while other clients will need to implement a new plan entirely. Shielding their assets and property against legal claims takes sophisticated planning and teamwork. We’re here to help you develop a tailored asset protection strategy for each of your clients.

Several issues and strategies merit examination in your asset protection conversation with your clients.

Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT): DAPTs can protect your clients from a legal claim that may arise in the future by allowing them to place their assets into a special trust that protects them from the reach of a creditor. DAPTs aren’t available in every state, and the most popular states for DAPTs are Alaska, Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming. DAPTs are a sophisticated strategy that’s not right for everyone. But, for the right clients, they are a potent tool for protecting assets. Like any sophisticated legal and financial strategy, it’s best to work with a team.
Planning Tip: Another option is an offshore asset protection trust established under foreign laws. However, placing your clients’ assets out of the U.S. adds significant tax reporting burdens. Also, court orders for asset repatriation can lead to a client being held in contempt of court. Because of the ongoing tax compliance, fiduciary fees, and overall complexity of these foreign trusts, offshore planning is usually not a great option for most clients.
Lifetime Trusts: Lifetime trusts protect your clients’ beneficiaries’ inheritances. Think of this tactic as asset protection for the next generation. Although it does not provide any asset protection benefit for your current clients, these trusts can secure the financial well-being of their children after they’re gone. Additionally, assets left in lifetime trusts need long-term management, providing you a valuable opportunity to be introduced to and work with the next generation.
Inheritor’s Trusts: Inheritor’s trusts are an excellent choice for clients who expect to receive an inheritance. Rather than acquire assets outright or through a less-than-ideal trust set up by their family (usually parents or grandparents), your clients can strategically secure their inheritances with this type of trust. These trusts work best when they are coordinated with the client’s overall plan. Any client – especially well-off ones – expecting a large inheritance should consider this option.
Risk Management Planning: Setting up a corporation, LLC, limited partnership, buying appropriate insurance, negotiating contracts effectively, using retirement plans and other exempt accounts, and other strategies are all part of what we could call risk management planning. Some of these may be built into your clients’ estate plan while others may be part of your client’s business plans. Many clients have not taken the time to develop a risk management strategy fully, but it is well worth the effort since many of these strategies are “low hanging” fruit, especially compared to more sophisticated strategies like DAPTs.

No matter what kind of asset protection strategies you help your clients implement, make sure they don’t sleep on it. Planning of this type should not be delayed or neglected. Effective strategies like these only protect your clients when they’re put into place early enough — well ahead of a lawsuit, credit claim, or bankruptcy. For clients who have already implemented one or more strategies, it is also a great time to review and ensure the plan will work as expected. Many trusts – even “irrevocable” ones – can be modernized (and their benefits possibly enhanced) using tools like a modification or decanting. Of course, the traditional concerns of estate planning, such as client privacy, freedom to determine who will be in charge of their assets, and reduction of income and estate taxes, must be addressed. Asset protection lets you improve your value to clients by enhancing client control over their property.

Planning tip: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 also impacts your clients’ asset protection needs. Far fewer individuals and married couples will have to pay inheritance taxes because of it. However, it also means that lawsuits — even “frivolous” ones — can still spell trouble for your clients. Bankruptcy and divorce can also come into play here, so protective planning to protect and preserve assets is extremely important, even as estate taxes have receded in importance.

We’re here to help you and your clients.
Your clients trust that you have the expertise to guide them toward their financial goals, and that often means pulling an estate planner into the conversation as part of their team of experts. Give us a call today to chat about how we can build asset protection into your clients’ plans.

Newsletter Archive


View All Newsletters
  • Advisor Focused Newsletter 50
  • Client Focused Newsletter 51

Services:

Estate & Trust Planning
Probate, Estate & Trust Administration
Asset/Creditor Protection Planning
Business Planning
Wealth Transfer Planning

Disclaimers:

Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy

Follow Us:

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow

Disclaimers:

Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy

Services:

Estate & Trust Planning
Probate, Estate & Trust Administration
Asset/Creditor Protection Planning
Business Planning
Wealth Transfer Planning

Follow Us:

  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
2020 Copyright Casey Law Group P.L. A Website Design by Ahrens Technologies | Kirkland’s Webdesgin.
Accessibility by WAH
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Asset and Creditor Protection Planning
  • Asset Protection Law
  • Attorney Profile
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Business Formation Law
  • Business Owner Planning
  • Business Planning
  • Contact Us
  • Contact Us
  • Estate & Trust Planning
  • Estate Planning Law
  • Events
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Probate, Estate & Trust Administration
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Testimonials
  • Testing Video
  • Trust Administration
  • Video FAQs
  • Video Links
    • Are there other ways of leaving property to my beneficiaries other than through a will or a trust?
    • Are there things I can do to protect my existing business?
    • Can any attorney create a family wealth trust?
    • Can I leave my property to anyone I choose? 
    • Can I make provision in my will for my pets?
    • Can I specify that certain people, like a brother or sister, should never receive any of my property?
    • Can I transfer real estate into a family wealth trust?
    • Can I use my will to name a guardian to care for my young children and mage their property?
    • Can I use my will to name a guardian to care for young children and manage their property?
    • Can my power of attorney make or change my will?
    • Can trustees get help administrating trusts? 
    • Do I have to employ asset protection for all types of assets?
    • Do I need a financial power of attorney?
    • Do I need to name a trustee in my will?
    • Do we have to take account of minority shareholders’ interests and wishes in a family business?
    • Does a small business (subchapter S corporation give me the same protection as limited liability company (LLC))?
    • Does a will control all of my property?
    • Does all property have to go through probate when a person dies?
    • Does an executor (personal representative) get paid?
    • Does the person named in the will as executor (personal representative) have to serve?
    • How can a limited liability company provide me with asset protection?
    • How can an estate plan may things easier on my family after I die?
    • How can I leave specific items to particular people?
    • How can I make sure I will keep control of the family business if I get divorced?
    • How do I best protect my personal assets if I start a small business?
    • How do I get started with a succession plan?
    • How does a family wealth trust differ from a revocable living trust?
    • How does a revocable living trust avoid probate? 
    • How does trust administration differ from probate?
    • How is undue influence determined?
    • How long is a will valid?
    • How often should a succession plan be updated?
    • How often should my will be reviewed?
    • I want to start a small business with two partners. What is the best way to protect myself?
    • If I become incapacitated, will I need a durable power of attorney if I already have a living trust?
    • If I create a revocable living trusts, do I still need a will?
    • If I die owing debts, who pays my debts?
    • If I made a will, but lived in another state. Now I live in Florida. What should I do?
    • If I make a living trust, do I still need a will?
    • If there is a divorce in the family can we get shares back from an ex-spouse who is no longer a family member?
    • Is it possible that I may need more than one LLC?
    • Must I leave something to my spouse and children?
    • Should I avoid probate?
    • What are the benefits of a succession plan?
    • What are the signs of undue influence?
    • What are the uniform fraudulent transfer act (UFTA) and the uniform fraudulent convevance act (UFCA)?
    • What are trusts?
    • What benefits does a trust offer?
    • What does a guardian do?
    • What does a proper estate plan include?
    • What does if mean to fund a trust?
    • What does testate and intestate mean?
    • What happens if I become unable to care for myself? 
    • What happens if I die without a will?
    • What happens if you do not have a will or trust? 
    • What if become disabled and am no longer able to manage my affairs?
    • What is a bypass trusts?
    • What is a domestic asset protection trust?
    • What is a durable power of attorney?
    • What is a family wealth trust?
    • What is a fiduciary?
    • What is a health care power of attorney?
    • What is a health care proxy?
    • What is a living will?
    • What is a pour-over will?
    • What is a QTIP trust?
    • What is a registered agent?
    • What is a revocable trust?
    • What is a testamentary trust?
    • What is a testator and a testarix?
    • What is a trustee?
    • What is an A-B trust?
    • What is an executor (personal representative) and what does the executor do?
    • What is an irrevocable trust?
    • What is asset protection?
    • What is codicil?
    • What is estate planning?
    • What is incapacity or a lack of capacity?
    • What is included in my estate?
    • What is offshore planning?
    • What is personal residence trust?
    • What is piercing the corporate veil?
    • What is probate?
    • What is tenants by the entirety?
    • What is the difference between a will and a trust?
    • What is the difference between having a will and family wealth trust?
    • What is the difference between traditional estate planning and wealth planning?
    • What is trust administration?
    • What is wealth transfer planning?
    • What property does my will control?
    • What protection is available through a family limited partnership?
    • What will I still have control over my property if I have a living trust?
    • When does the trust administration process start?
    • When is the right time to begin estate planning for myself?
    • When is the right time to start succession planning?
    • When should an estate plan be reviewed? 
    • When should I review my existing will?
    • When should I start asset protection?
    • Who administers trusts?
    • Why do I have to be careful about fraudulent transfer rules?
    • Why should I make a living trust?
    • Will a family wealth trust avoid income taxes?
    • Would a living trust provide protection for my assets if I were sued?
  • Wealth Transfer Planning
  • Wealth Transfer Planning
  • Will and Trusts Law