1. Do you own over $50,000 in liquid assets [checking, savings, stocks,
bonds, CD’s, money market, etc.)?
* Required
Lawsuits have become the next big business. In this day and age creditor
issues are plentiful and lawsuits, divorce, and other financial woes happen
daily. You should definitely be educating yourself on Asset Protection
and Estate Planning at this point and considering obtaining a complimentary
preliminary consultation on protecting your assets. If you are ready for
a complimentary preliminary consultation or you would like more literature
to educate yourself on Asset Protection or Estate Planning you can contact
our office today! 561-953-1050 |
Info@AssetProtectionAttorneys.com
It’s never too early to learn about Asset Protection since Asset
Protection is best done proactively and most effectively executed when
your financial seas are calm.
2. Do you own a business?
* Required
Did you know that if you own shares in a corporation, any creditor could
indirectly control your company by taking control of your personally titled
corporate shares? In fact, the S Corporation is actually one of the worst
ways of titling your business. Scary to think about, isn’t it? You
need to ask yourself if your business is correctly titled or structured
from an Asset Protection standpoint for its purpose. If you don’t
know, then it would be a good idea to obtain a complimentary preliminary
consultation with an Asset Protection Attorney. To keep this from happening,
make sure all your assets are fully protected from every direction.
A business is just one of the many assets you can protect. Consider protecting
your home, your other real estate, your checking and savings accounts,
as well as any other assets that have a substantial value to your Estate.
3. Do you have a child, spouse, or employee that drives a vehicle that
you own or insure?
* Required
Lending your car to anyone else (especially your children) is a huge liability!
If they get into a car accident the owner will be liable. Your name and
your requisite assets will be attached to the accident and/or lawsuit
arising so you may risk losing everything you own by committing this foolish
act. This is especially true of teenage children – they often don’t
have the driving or life experience to make the best choices. That is
why teenage children should always have their own cars when possible or
at least their own car insurance policy – separate from yours.
Good Job! Lending your car to others is a huge liability. You still should
consider protecting your home, your other real estate, your checking and
savings accounts, as well as any other assets that have a substantial
value to your Estate.
4. Do you own any real estate?
* Required
Consider the following questions to gauge whether your assets could be
in danger.
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How is your real estate titled? If your real estate is tiled personally then you could potentially run
into huge problems down the line. Owning assets in your own name is a
catastrophe waiting to happen. Remember – the key to Asset Protection
is controlling everything, but owning nothing!
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Are you mixing your liability producing assets with your safe assets? If you have multiple properties – make sure to title each of them to a
different protective entity. You don’t want to mix your liability
generating assets with your safe assets. Owning real estate is definitely
a liability producer as someone can trip and fall on your property or
your renters may sue you. It’s very important to have an Asset Protection
plan in place when you own one or more real estate properties.
Consider protecting your home, business, checking and savings accounts,
as well as any other assets that have a substantial value to your Estate.
Of course the obvious answer would be that you wouldn’t want to lose
any of your assets, however, the majority of us can’t even afford
to lose 25% of our assets and still live comfortably for the rest of our
lives. Take a teacher who has worked their whole life to reach a salary
of $70,000 a year and retire at the age 65. To have the same custom of
living and yearly income from ages 65-85, this teacher must have at least
one million dollars saved upon retirement. If that teacher loses 1/4th
of her savings – that would decrease the salary allowance from $70,000
to $57,000. Any more of a decrease would yield an even lower per year
allowance. Without Asset Protection, that teacher could lose everything
she has saved up for retirement.
You never have too few assets to protect and the consequences of not protecting
the assets you do have could be devastating. And, the less you have –
the more you need protection!
6. Do you think you need International Asset Protection?
* Required
Let us send you our complimentary literature on International Asset Protection
to educate you on the topic before you completely rule it out. Here are
a few of the advantages to International Asset Protection:
- Non-uniformity of legal systems: There are many Asset Protection jurisdictions
that do not recognize or enforce U.S. judgments.
- Prospect of re-litigation discourages creditors: Due to the fact that certain
protective countries will not enforce an American judgment or civil decree,
a creditor must re-litigate their case within that foreign jurisdiction,
which is commonly impractical, if not impossible. The best international
financial centers impose procedural obstacles that effectively block creditors
and litigation through complex laws that are predominately debtor-oriented.
- Highly protective Asset Protection structures: Many Asset Protection jurisdictions
have special laws that allow highly protective Asset Protection structures
to be formed which offer substantially greater protection than offered
by a comparable U.S. entity.
- Privacy: Most Asset Protection jurisdictions are excellent privacy havens.
There are many more advantages to these Asset Protection plans and many
jurisdictions to complete the planning in. Contact us today to see whether
International Asset Protection may be right for you.
International Asset Protection has many advantages:
- Non-uniformity of legal systems: There are many Asset Protection jurisdictions
that do not recognize or enforce U.S. judgments.
- Prospect of re-litigation discourages creditors: Due to the fact that certain
protective countries will not enforce an American judgment or civil decree,
a creditor must re-litigate their case within that foreign jurisdiction,
which is commonly impractical, if not impossible. The best international
financial centers impose procedural obstacles that effectively block creditors
and litigation through complex laws that are predominately debtor-oriented.
- Highly protective Asset Protection structures: Many Asset Protection jurisdictions
have special laws that allow highly protective Asset Protection structures
to be formed which offer substantially greater protection than offered
by a comparable U.S. entity.
- Privacy: Most Asset Protection jurisdictions are excellent privacy havens.
There are many more advantages to these Asset Protection plans and many
jurisdictions to do the planning in. Contact us today to see whether International
Asset Protection may be right for you.
7. What type of commitment are you willing to invest into protecting your assets?
* Required
The typical investment commitment is usually proportional to your net worth.
A billionaire client will surely need a few more layers of protection
than a millionaire client and vice versa. It’s very important that
you speak to a qualified Asset Protection Attorney to see whether your
preferred investment is enough, too little, or just right.
8. Do you have confidence that the legal system would treat you fairly
if you were involved in a lawsuit?
* Required
Litigation is uncertain in today’s day and age and can cost tens
of thousands of dollars (on the low end), even if you win the case. There
is generally a four to five year statute of limitations to file a contract
based or personal injury based lawsuit (the statute of limitations varies
by state), which gives creditors huge flexibility. Once a proceeding is
started, your trial may be postponed over and over - which is a tactic
many lawyers utilize. In the end, the judge or jury may decide against
you – even if you have a great defense. And if you win, you will surely
be hit with large Attorney fees regardless. The only way to really win,
is to never be sued!
Litigation is uncertain in today’s day and age and can cost tens
of thousands of dollars (on the low end), even if you win the case. The
best strategy is to never become a party to a lawsuit. That’s really
the only way you are certain to win. Further, if you have an Asset Protection
plan, you undoubtedly have more power in a lawsuit. If all of your assets
are protected, what does the litigant stand to win? Very little – which
is an excellent bargaining chip.
9. Do you own any personal tangible property (cars, boats, snow mobiles,
wave runners, RV’s, etc.)?
* Required
These types of tangible properties are huge liability producers. Cars get
into accidents everyday. You, your spouse or your child may accidently
hurt someone else on the snowmobile or wave runner. You can be sued for
a plethora of other reasons in relation to these assets, so it’s
very smart to protect yourself from every angle. Make sure you title these
tangible assets to protective entities and out of your personal name.
Consider protecting your home, real estate, checking and savings accounts,
as well as any other assets that have a substantial value to your Estate.
10. Do you currently have an estate plan?
* Required
That is great! Make sure to update your estate plan as significant events
occur in your life (marriage, divorce, new state of residence, children,
financial changes, etc.). Also, regardless of these changes, your estate
plan should be reviewed at least every five years for any outdated legal
provisions.
You should immediately consider obtaining an Estate Plan since death is,
unfortunately, guaranteed to eventually happen. You don’t want your
assets to pass to unintended beneficiaries! Also, most of our clients
integrate their Estate Planning with their Asset Protection plans.
Asset Protection Quiz
This short assessment includes a few questions that you should consider
in evaluating your level of Asset Protection. Answer the following five
questions and we will provide you with a recommendation as to whether
you should schedule a complimentary preliminary consultation with The
Presser Law Firm, P.A. regarding the protection of your assets.
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