Lawsuits are a rapidly growing business and for anyone who has worked hard to accumulate any significant wealth in their life you may find yourself at risk of being dragged into one. Whether a frivolous lawsuit or not, the time cost and financial drain of legal fees, potential settlements, or judgements to a creditor leave your financial future vulnerable. It is both moral and ethical for you to take the proactive steps to protect yourself and your assets from lawsuits. Below I will outline three basic steps everyone should take to secure their wealth.
Take all assets besides your primary residence out of your own personal name. We leave the primary residence because you receive tax write offs and homestead safety up to a certain degree depending on your state of residence. Any other asset in your own personal name whether liquid or investment like real estate is vulnerable. The ultimate goal of a bullet proof Asset Protection plan is to own nothing, but control everything.
Utilize LLCs and Limited Partnerships to hold your assets. LLCs work best for investments such as real estate, personal toys like boats, trailers, quads, golf carts basically anything that could create a potential liability. Limited Partnerships work best for more liquid assets such as cash, investments, receivables, shares in a corporation.
Create protective layers within your holdings so that none of the LLC’s or Limited Partnerships are in your own name. An example of how you can do this is by having a Domestic Asset Protection Trust “DAPT” or Family Limited Partnership “FLP” own all of the companies which hold your assets. The additional layers of separation will help to ensure that should a potential creditor appear your separation of personal wealth, and assets will not be legally vulnerable.
Creating a customized Asset Protection plan can be complicated as there are many factors to consider beyond just the type of structure your utilize and how many structures you create. Our firm has helped manage portfolios for clients with over 1 billion dollars to the saavy investor with a portfolio of 200k. Wherever you are in your financial affairs we offer complimentary preliminary consultations meant to assess your current level of protection and offer guidance on how to better protect what you’ve got. Our specialty is protecting your money and we work hard to stay up to date with the latest changes in tax laws, international Asset Protection jurisdictions, corporate structures, case law, and state statues which determine your safety so that you can focus on doing what you do best which is making the money. Call us today to schedule your consultation.
The Presser Law Firm P.A.
6199 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton FL 33487
(800) 999-9992 or e-mail info@assetprotectionattorneys.com