Asset Protection

WHY DO I NEED ASSET PROTECTION?

Our society has migrated towards a more litigious environment. Due to this shift, professionals, small business owners and even homeowners have begun to focus on ways to protect their savings, investments and other assets. Statistics show that the average person will be sued at least once in their lifetime.

Proper asset protection does not involve hiding assets or using secret agreements or fraudulent transfers. It is based upon sophisticated combinations of business and estate planning techniques. These techniques can generally protect you only from future creditors. Once a lawsuit has been filed or is anticipated these techniques are usually ineffective.

Increasing medical malpractice insurance costs have presented today’s Florida physician with a dilemma: should these high premiums be paid or should an alternative to malpractice insurance be sought? To many physicians, serious consideration is being given to waiving malpractice insurance and either self insuring or specifically and carefully planning for protection against future malpractice judgments.

Increasing medical and nursing home costs have also presented many retirees with a dilemma: should these high medical and nursing home costs be paid or should specific and careful planning be done to protect their retirement and life savings? Many retirees are choosing careful planning to protect their assets or to structure their assets in a manner that they become eligible for public assistance such as Medicaid.

The asset protection techniques that you choose will depend on how aggressively you want to protect your assets. Generally, the more sophisticated the technique the higher the hurdle the creditor must overcome. Of course, the more sophisticated the technique, the more expensive it is to implement. Simple techniques may, depending on the liabilities you choose to protect against, provide the same protection as the sophisticated techniques. Thomas A. Moseley, Chartered therefore uses the simpler asset protection techniques before proceeding to the more sophisticated techniques.