Friday, April 11, 2014

Top Reasons Why You Should Consider Asset Protection Planning

By Anita Ortega


How you and your family survive tomorrow may depend on what you own today. Nevertheless, creditors may want to take your assets at times. The best course of action therefore is to protect your wealth today against future claims or retrievals. Granted, developing an asset protection planning is a good thing; what is even better is having background knowledge of tax and bankruptcy laws.

Just to be clear, the asset protection plans are never a means to forfeit your responsibility to the creditors or taxman. Rather, they are meant to secure your property, money, retirement accounts and even cars from creditors in a legal way. In fact, the decision to protect assets should be influenced by your lifestyle, net worth and short term or long term financial goals.

It suffices to say that individuals with the potential of undergoing insolvency (due to the risks attached to their investments) need the program the most. It is worth reiterating that even for these individuals; this program is not a means to hide an individuals wealth. In fact, it should not give way to misappropriating funds from a trust.

Contrary to what most people may believe, individuals and families are not the only beneficiaries of asset protection plans. In reality, many entities can fall under a good plan. For instance, a dynasty trust or business unit can benefit from legal protection. Overall indemnity policies, secret trusts, limited liability firms and even trust for people with special needs can all be protected.

Individual arrangements and family trusts make another group of assets eligible for protection. Your plan may also involve offshore corporate trust and investing schemes in some cases. In some jurisdictions, credit shelters and such like can be protected legally.

The key rule to effective planning is doing it in time. It will serve you right if you were to plan before claims arise to avoid lawsuit(s). Now, late plans may not just make things worse for you but can attract bankruptcy charges. You may even end up paying the creditor legal fees in some cases.

As long as the process follows due steps, the planning carries with it some advantages. It provides time to assign your liquid assets accordingly. In fact, reclassifying your money makes it difficult for the lenders to claim such in the event you go broke or unable to repay your debts in time. On the other hand, the program shields property from legal claims. It is important to mention that only unsecured wealth can be subject to a court case.

Protecting assets can also help in covering what an insurance policy left out. Well, it is common knowledge that all insurance agreements are tailored to cover only specific areas of your life and wealth. So, all the important assets you insurance cover could not guard can be safe through a protection plan. Asset planning also secures your wealth and money even if you had an accident or became jobless. As a matter of fact, your financial situation does not expose you to creditors repossession or lawsuits.




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