Asset protection is a highly specialized area of law utilizing strategies and tools to solve three major problems: lawsuits, taxes, and probate. There are estate planning attorneys who can set up your succession plan to avoid probate and estate taxes, but they typically don’t do anything to protect your assets from lawsuits or to help reduce your income taxes. There are tax attorneys who can create structures to reduce income taxes, but they typically do not do anything for lawsuit protection. An effective asset protection plan provides lawsuit protection, tax reduction, and estate planning.
Lawsuit Protection
Problem #1: There are over one hundred million lawsuits currently pending in the United States, and it is estimated that a new lawsuit is filed every thirty seconds. It is now routine for judgments to be in the millions. If you are not properly structured, it only takes one lawsuit to lose everything.
Solution #1: Owning assets in your own name is the worst possible way to own assets for lawsuit protection. However, most property is owned in individual or joint ownership, which means that assets such as homes and automobiles are titled in a personal name or the name of a husband and wife. The key to lawsuit protection is to own assets in LLCs (Limited Liability Company) and/or FLPs (Family Limited Partnership). Transferring your assets from being owned in your name to being owned in the name of LLCs and FLPs will protect 100% of your professional and personal assets from lawsuits. The American Society for Asset Protection has helped thousands of business owners properly transfer assets into LLCs and FLPs for asset protection.
Tax Reduction
Problem #2: Billions of dollars are overpaid each year in taxes as a result of people not using all the deductions and tax laws available. According to the IRS commissioner, millions of taxpayers are overpaying their taxes each year.
Solution #2: The LLCs and FLPs used to protect your assets can also be used to reduce your income taxes each year. S-corps and C-corps can also be effective tools. The American Society for Asset Protection can help you reduce your taxes to the legal minimum—potentially saving you thousands of dollars each year. The use of LLCs, FLPs, and corporations enables you to reduce your taxes by maximizing deductions, creating non-taxable income, spreading income, and deferring income. For some individuals, charitable entities (charitable remainder trust, non-profit corporation, family foundation, etc.) can also be used to reduce taxes.
Estate Planning
Problem #3: The vast majority of Americans either do not have an estate plan or have an incomplete or ineffective one. If you are one of the many who do not have an effective estate plan, up to 50% of your estate could be lost to probate costs, federal estate taxes and state inheritance taxes. If you were to die today, do you know what would happen to your assets?
Solution #3: A revocable living trust is a legal entity needed by every American to avoid probate and reduce or eliminate estate taxes. A living trust creates a timely and systematic distribution of your assets upon your death and is one of the most loving things you can do for your family. The American Society for Asset Protection has helped thousands of families create an estate plan for a successful business and estate succession.
Conclusion
What is Asset Protection? It is security and financial peace of mind. Most Americans do not take the time to create an effective asset protection plan but there are many benefits to doing so. It takes years to accumulate your assets. Now it’s time to protect them.