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ESTATE PLANNING & ASSET PROTECTION

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Estate planning isn't about how much money you have. Rather, it's about protecting what you have for you during your lifetime and for your loved ones after you're gone. Effective estate planning looks at all of the issues, from death and disability to Medicaid and nursing home care. Your estate plan must be designed to accomplish your unique needs and goals. With many planning options to choose from, you can protect yourself, your spouse, your children and your assets through the use of trusts, wills and other legal documents including health care proxies, powers of attorney and living wills. A trust is a legal "rule book" that permits your family to carry out your wishes and promote your values even if you become disabled and when you pass away, without unnecessary legal process or court intervention.

You can create a Revocable Living Trust that permits you to keep total control and access to all of your assets during your lifetime and provides for the prompt distribution of assets to your beneficiaries upon your death. A major advantage of a Revocable Living Trust is the avoidance of probate, which is required if you use a Will to distribute assets after your death. Other advantages of properly drafted Revocable Living Trusts can include:

• Disability planning if you should become mentally incapacitated.
• Asset protection for your spouse after your death.
• Special needs planning for disabled beneficiaries.
• Asset protection for your children from divorce, bankruptcy, creditors and lawsuits.
• Protection of assets from a spouse's remarriage after your death.

While a Revocable Living Trust has many advantages, it does not protect your assets during your lifetime from nursing homes, lawsuits, divorce, bankruptcy or other creditors.

Debtor/Creditor law provides that whatever you can get, your creditors and predators can get. Many people wish to protect their personal, business and/or professional assets from unknown potential creditors, unforeseen lawsuits and nursing home costs. Asset protection techniques, such as irrevocable trusts, are designed to safeguard your assets from such potential creditors. While a Revocable Living Trust permits you to maintain full control and access, an irrevocable trust may prohibit your right to control the trust or have access to your assets, but you decide to what extent. It is a common misconception that irrevocable trusts cannot be changed. While that is true of many irrevocable trusts created to avoid or reduce estate taxes, it is not true of all irrevocable trusts. A typical "income only" irrevocable trust permits you to receive income from your assets, but you must give up your right to principal. In some irrevocable trusts, which we call asset protection trusts, you can retain the right to change your beneficiaries and maintain total control of your assets until your mental incapacity or death. These are the trusts we use for Medicaid or long-term care planning.

Although most people should try to protect their assets, some people are at higher risk of lawsuits and judgments. These people include professionals, (doctors, lawyers, accountants), business and property owners, the very wealthy, people facing imminent legal, financial or medical problems and people with high risk jobs. Although insurance may cover some losses, proper asset protection planning can ensure that all of your personal and business assets are protected in the event of a large unforeseen lawsuit and judgment.