Ours’ is a litigious world. Who knows what liabilities or lawsuit are around the corner? While estate planning considers your estate’s future distributions of property, asset protection planning focuses on protecting your personal and business property during your lifetime. Not all areas overlap, but taken together estate and asset protection planning can provide a comprehensive solution to limit your risks and safeguard your family’s future.

Some common asset protection options include forming a business or corporate entity, reorganizing the ownership of personal and business assets, moving assets into different protective devices, placing assets beyond the reach of creditors, employing the use of limited liability entities, entering joint venture agreements, creating trusts, using gifting strategies, and handling security interests.

Often there is a degree of risk involved in moving ahead in life. A distinction exists, however, between managing risk and operating dangerously. You have your own comfort zone and we respect that, but when it comes to defending your assets why take unnecessary risks? Your plans can be simple or complex but the degree of detail involved often makes them more effective. Regardless, we work with you to determine the combination of planning priorities that fits your budget while offering you peace of mind.

If not, perhaps ownership transfers might be considered. Depending on the circumstances, transferring ownership of assets may shield against creditors attacks and provide potential tax benefits for your estate. Of course, there are pros and cons to any approach. A few limitations to consider may include: loss of control over an asset, transfer of exposure to other parties, tax consequences, shifting family dynamics, income streams, and other matters.

With so many devices available and each with numerous pros and cons, you need an attorney who can work with you and your interests over the long haul. Effective planning can’t be done in a vacuum. Success involves making decisions based on the facts of each case and then adjusting those decisions in accord with changing circumstances and new goals.

Business owners must constantly consider how to grow and protect their business, but perhaps more important, an owner also needs to strategize on how to prevent business liabilities from raiding their personal assets. Often business owners seek to incorporate or form a limited liability entity. This step is taken in order to minimize personal risk and exposure. In addition to their own liabilities, however, these entities can also offer protection against exposure to liabilities from having business partners and employees.

Regardless, a business owner’s defensive considerations should not stop with the creation of business entity. While it is certainly a good start (and one put off by many), the mindset of self-defense should serve as a constant framework from which business decisions are analyzed. Our attorneys aren’t interested in becoming deal killers or preventing growth, but we are interested in making sure a deal doesn’t ultimately harm our clients. Too often, what once seemed like a simple contract later becomes an actionable personal guarantee which was signed in haste and without due consideration. As a result, business owners from several industries often choose to have our lawyers review their transactions to ensure they aren’t missing something important.

Asset protection planning is often sought when something goes wrong. While at times this can’t be avoided, we maintain that being reactive means you may be acting too late. For example, asset protection efforts which appear to be a purposeful avoidance of known liabilities are frowned upon by the law (these are known as fraudulent transfers.) On the other hand, the law looks much more favorably on plans which were implemented well in advance of any known liabilities.