Friday 6 June 2014

Advice On Asset Protection Planning

By Nora Jennings


Anybody can be sued at any time without any warning. Lawsuits are motivated by very many things such as credit card debts, car accidents, bank foreclosures among many other issues in the case where another person wins a monetary judgment against you, you might end up being bankrupt while trying to pay them off. Asset protection planning helps people to keep their assets where the creditors cannot reach them. This is not suitable for the extra-rich people but for any person who has their name on any kinds of assets.

If a person wants to develop an asset shield plan, they will need to first consult an attorney so that their attorney can discuss with them the favorable long term and short term financial goals that they should consider. In this way the attorney will be able to come up with a plan that is most favorable for the client.

Property shielding is only applicable if it is undertaken before the owner has been sued. The current law protects the creditors against any kind of defrauding. The court can reverse a transfer of assets in the owner transferred them after they learnt that they were going to be sued or were already sued. This is done because most people do so to avoid paying their creditors.

There are several asset protection techniques such as the moving of the funds to an irrevocable trust, changing the titles of some of the assets, maximizing the contribution to the IRAs or even using of public limited liability companies.

Asset protection does not only ensure the safety of the property, it also helps to protect a particular debtor from being arrested and being put in jail for contempt or bankruptcy fraud. For this reason, the debtors should critical ensure they obey some of the rules listed below to ensure their freedom in such a situation.

First, they should make sure that they plan early before there is any claim on their assets. There are many effective things that can be done to protect assets before they are claimed but only a few will work if it is after. Planning after there is a claim on the assets can even make matters worse for the owner. This move more often than not backfires.

Property protection should never be taken as a substitute for insurance. As a matter of fact it should be a supplement for insurance. Insurance also supports asset protection as the insurance company is supposed to take on the legal fees and pay to settle the case in case their client is sued. People should protect their personal assets on trusts and business assets on business entities.

Over-protection of assets is also not healthy. When the property is over protected the debtors and the safety system become one entity in one way or another and therefore it should be discouraged. With these guidelines, the owners of property mainly those who constantly expose themselves to the risks of being sued should make sure they have undertaken measures before they lose all their property.




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