Growing older is one of the best things that can happen to us in life. With maturity comes wisdom, experience, and memories. As one of Greensboro’s leading elder law firms, the team at The Elderlaw Firm works hand in hand with clients to form strategies that will help them make the most out of their second half of life. One such strategy is wealth protection planning– or the practice of legally protecting your assets from future issues like lawsuits, greedy creditors, divorce, and more. With the proper guidance from an elder law attorney and protection strategies that have been tried and proven, you can secure your wealth, keep it better protected from creditors, and safeguard it for the beneficiaries you’d like to receive it down the road. You can also use that wealth to help offset long term care costs for yourself, your spouse, or another family member.
We’ve helped dozens of hardworking men and women protect their assets from claims of creditors by showing them how to insulate their wealth via an efficient and effective estate plan.
What is wealth protection planning?
While wealth protection planning (or asset protection planning) can include a number of different things, one of its primary goals is to set your estate and your personal assets up for success in the unfortunate event of a claim or lawsuit against you. For a bit of context, wealth protection planning functions similarly to liability insurance for a vehicle (in fact, in some cases, purchasing liability insurance for valuables is the first. Though the hope is that nothing bad befalls what you own, liability insurance provides that extra peace of mind that you’re covered even if the worst does happen.
Many states, including North Carolina, allow residents to exempt some assets like investments, limited liability companies, the cash value of life i
nsurance, or jointly owned properties from creditors, pending the right processes are followed. At The Elderlaw Firm, we’re well equipped to help you find the best ways to protect your assets while remaining well within the parameters of federal and state law.
What are some ways I can protect my wealth and assets?
While there are a number of asset protection strategies, at The Elderlaw Firm, we believe that the simplest and most secure ways to protect your wealth require the guidance of a knowledgeable attorney with your best interests at heart. While liability insurance can be a part of your long term strategy, it often isn’t enough to seriously secure assets. Some concepts we help our clients consider to better secure their assets include the formation of a limited liability company, limited partnership, family limited partnership or sole proprietorship, considering an offshore trust where applicable, and filing for a homestead exemption if circumstances are right. To us, wealth preservation is about more than simply storing your assets away under lock and key. We’re not in the business of hiding assets either. Our primary focus is to provide our clients with a feeling of safety and security by protecting against the unforeseen.
Protect against fraudulent activity
One of the reasons that seeking the services of a knowledgeable attorney is so important when it comes to wealth protection planning is because there are strict rules and regulations that must be followed to ensure your planning is both legal and allowed in your particular state. Unlike traditional retirement planning, wealth planning often involves people with a high net worth and limited opportunities for traditional exemptions. While guidelines aren’t meant to suffocate these individuals, they are in place to ensure individuals are not looking to defraud creditors. Though most individuals are simply attempting to save their wealth for future generations, many individual investment strategies and planning strategies can lead to grave consequences if implemented incorrectly. If you have been sued, filed for bankruptcy, tax delinquent, or even liable for loans, wealth protection planning can be illegal. It takes a skilled attorney to advise you on how to protect your assets legally and efficiently!
For asset protection to work best for you, you need a knowledgeable team behind you. Wealth management and estate planning can be time consuming, laborious, and tricky for even the most competent individuals, and entrusting knowledgeable, reputable estate planning attorneys to create an asset protection plan can be the key to making sure you do things the right way.
Here at The Elderlaw Firm, we have years of experience providing counsel, advice, and assistance for men and women interested in wealth protection planning and protection from creditors seeking more than their share. While all assets cannot always be protected, the right wealth preservation plan can ensure the most important assets– like your personal property, or your personal residence– are protected.
Contact us for more information on protecting assets through an efficient, measured, effective planning process today!
