What is an Asset Protection Attorney?
Question: What is an asset protection attorney?
Answer:
An asset protection attorney helps individuals and businesses keep their belongings, or assets, from creditors.
Most people and businesses have insurance to protect their valuables, such as homeowners insurance or medical malpractice insurance. However, insurance policies don’t always cover all damages awarded in a lawsuit. An asset protection attorney will make it legally harder or completely impossible to get at your assets.
Some ways that an asset protection attorney may suggest to protect your property are relatively simple. For example, if you have a business, your lawyer may suggest that your form an limited liability company, a family limited partnership or a corporation. You can’t protect your personal assets if you have a single proprietorship or a partnership.
Other ways of protecting your assets include gifting the maximum amount that is allowable under the law to family members or investing in federally protected retirement funds. If your needs are more complex, your asset protection attorney may suggest forming offshore corporations, limited liability companies or trusts.
Not everyone needs asset protection lawyers. You are more likely to need an asset proctection attorney if you work in a high liability profession such as the law, if you are wealthy or if you expect to be in legal or financial straits shortly.
While you might be tempted investigate asset protection on your own, you may be making a mistake. The big word in asset management is “legal.” There are scams out there that look attractive, but may not only put your assets at risk, the scams may put you in legal jeopardy. A reputable personal asset attorney follows the law.
If you are looking for a qualified asset protection attorney, check with the American Bar Association for referrals in your state.
An asset protection attorney is a legal professional specializing in assisting clients to arrange their finances, property, and other assets in a manner that minimizes the chance for taxation and other issues to develop. A competent asset protection lawyer will be well-versed in establishing trusts, determining insurance needs, creating last wills and testaments, and organizing investments so that the client is able to enjoy the highest level of efficiency when it comes to estate planning and management. Lawyers with expertise in the process of assess protection know how to evaluate the current holdings of the client and identify the best ways to protect those holdings from undue tax burdens. The asset protection attorney also provides the client with protection from loss of assets by way of civil suits involving negligence or malpractice. This means that the attorney will possess a solid working knowledge of insurance options, the creation of entities like family corporations and trus
