Newsletter Articles

Asset Protection Newsletter

Updated discussions, cases and legislation impacting asset protection planning. Topics include protecting assets from unexpected medical bills, asset protection planning for kids, fighting back against frivolous lawsuits, using LLC’s for asset protection and other key topics in the legal field of asset protection.

By Robert J. Mintz, Esq.

Protect Assets From Unexpected Medical Expenses  A growing focus of our practice in recent years is on asset protection planning for individuals to protect against medical expense related liability risks.

Medical expenses resulting from an illness or injury represent a serious threat to your home and savings.

Do Your Kids Need Asset Protection? As part of the political debate about tax cuts and estate tax, a type of trust known as a Dynasty Trust has received a barrage of criticism from those who claim that the wealthy are not paying their fair share of the taxes.

Loser Pays The threat of lawsuits is a major contributor to rising health care costs. What if we adopted a tort system where the loser pays? The losing side would pay all the legal fees and costs of the winner. That’s the way Great Britain does it as well as almost every other country in the world. Wouldn’t that system knock out all frivolous lawsuits? Let’s consider it.

Using LLC’s for Asset Protection In a surprise move last month, the Florida Supreme Court overturned key features of the state’s Limited Liability Company law leaving many experts scrambling for explanations and raising the issue of how particular asset protection strategies may be impacted by the decision. In this article we examine the legal developments leading up to the Court’s decision and pose the question of the proper role LLC’s should play in your business and asset protection planning.

Strategic Defaults – What Happens If You Walk Away From Your Mortgage   It’s not surprising that many of the “help” calls to our office deal with the liability issues associated with a potential default on a mortgage loan. Typically, the value of the property is worth substantially less than the loan amount and the issue is what happens if he or she simply stops making the payments. Often, the caller has some savings or other properties with equity and the questions are posed:

Asset Planning and Estate Planning with the Family Savings Trust An increasingly popular tool used for asset protection and estate planning is known as The Family Savings Trust. The term is broadly descriptive of a trust designed specifically to hold and protect a variety of assets against lawsuits and business risks. It can be very flexible in form and allows for the accomplishment of most important asset protection and estate planning goals.

What is the Best Asset Protection Plan for Physicians? In our initial discussions with a client these questions always comes up “What’s the best asset protection plan?” “Are there any plans which are completely bulletproof?”

How the Financial Pros are Protecting Their Assets During the past year of financial turmoil we have seen a clear refocusing of attention on strategies to minimize financial and liability risks. In almost every area, real estate prices are down, financing is difficult or impossible and beyond merely losing a substantial investment, many are concerned about large potential liabilities to lenders in the form of foreclosures and deficiency judgments and personal loan guarantees. The question that many are asking is how do we protect our remaining savings and retirement nest egg from the risk of these liabilities?