How does estate planning fit in with Asset Protection planning?

The two objectives are closely connected. You can work a lifetime to accumulate your wealth and lose it all to your creditors after you die. Or you can lose it to your children’s creditors or ex-spouses. Children do lose their parents’ hard-earned money. Without careful planning you can also lose a fortune in estate taxes. So you must also think about how you can best protect your assets after you pass on. We want our clients to look ahead. How can they shield their wealth from creditors and wasteful heirs after they’re gone? On the other hand, you may be a beneficiary of a large inheritance. You must then ask yourself similar questions. How should you safeguard your inheritance against your financial problems? What would happen to your inheritance if you divorce? How can you protect your inheritance once you’re ready to pass it on to your heirs? These matters take careful thought.
Of course, how you protect your assets during your lifetime takes one set of strategies. How you should lawsuit-proof and safeguard your wealth after you die demands other strategies. Many large estates have been squandered by heirs, or ravaged by litigation only because the decedents didn’t give enough forethought to the disposition of their estate. Estate planning, of course, is itself a highly-complex specialty. And as with lawsuit protection planning, you have countless planning options. And as with Asset Protection, you must customize your estate plan to your specific needs. That’s why we integrate estate planning with our Asset Protection plans.

How does estate planning fit in with asset protection planning?