Three Important Types Of Asset Protection Planning

When families plan their estates, one primary goal is often to protect the transfer of wealth between generations. In many cases, however, achieving that goal is not simple. Your children’s divorces, lawsuits, creditors and failed business ventures can pose threats to assets once they have transferred out of your name. You are in a unique position to build a protective barrier between your gifts and your loved one’s future financial problems, but only you can make the decision to do this while you are still around.

The Dayton Law Firm, P.C., has extensive experience in providing asset protection planning as part of its estate planning and administration practice. Our lawyers stand ready to advise you on the types of protection that might work best for you, given your financial situation, asset types, family structure and individual circumstances.

Common Asset Protection Planning Tools

Asset protection planning is the process of preventing assets from becoming what are known as nonexempt assets — that is, assets that can be subject to the claims of creditors or lawsuits — and instead protecting them from such claims. There are several types of asset protection tools that our attorneys utilize regularly.

Joint Marital Trust

This can shield your assets from taxes until your spouse dies. This can be important for remarriages, for blended families and for keeping assets on one side of the family when there are wishes for certain property (like heirlooms, vacation homes or family businesses).

Beneficiary-Controlled Trust

This allows your chosen beneficiaries (such as children, grandchildren, or any friends and family) to act as trustees for management and investment responsibilities for their gift. There is another trustee who acts as a second key to the lock if the beneficiary wants a distribution.

IRA Or Retirement Trust

This can provide tax planning and additional protections to a beneficiary of a retirement account’s assets. This is like the beneficiary-controlled trust, but it is specially designed to maximize the benefits of pre-tax accounts like traditional IRAs.

Developing A Plan As Unique As Your Circumstances

Our attorneys only handle estate planning and post-death administration. This allows us to provide highly qualified advice for all levels of estate planning, post-death administration and advanced planning, including asset protection.

Learn More About Protecting Your Family’s Assets

No one can predict the future, but we can help you prepare for it. Our firm is located in San Jose and serves the entire bay area. We also serve clients throughout California.