Port Charlotte Asset Protection Lawyers

Just about everyone has assets, and people with assets want protection from creditors and any kind of legal trouble. The biggest misconception about contacting a lawyer is that you have to be wealthy to have assets to protect. Anyone who has a bank account and owns a home can benefit from asset protection. You do not need to be wealthy, and you should not wait to get a plan put in place.

The most important thing about protecting your assets is that you must use an asset protection lawyer. You can find plenty of websites online that will brag about their quick and easy methods for protecting your assets, but the money you think you are saving will come back to haunt you when your asset protection plan is actually put into effect. You need to contact an experienced attorney to make sure that all of the work is done right.

What Is An Asset Protection Lawyer?

In the legal world, an asset protection lawyer is a specialist who deals in areas such as elder law, estate planning, and trusts. While there are many lawyers who could be qualified to do some parts of asset protection for you, it is important to get an experienced attorney who knows the details of asset protection and is knowledgeable in every aspect of estate law.

An asset protection lawyer is there to use various legal and accounting tools to protect your assets from creditors while you are alive, and after you have passed on. As you can imagine protecting assets from creditors in any capacity is not easy, which is why your attorney should be experienced.

When Should I Make My First Appointment?

If you find yourself in a legal battle with creditors, then it might be too late to see an attorney. Once a legal action has started, it can be very difficult to move your assets to places where they are protected. Even if your attorney manages to move your assets, most state courts will order the assets removed from protective accounts because a legal motion has already started.

The best time to call an asset protection lawyer is right now. It does not matter how old you are or what your financial status will be. You never know when something could happen that would affect your personal wealth, which is why it is important to contact an experienced attorney as soon as possible.

What Should I Look For In An Asset Protection Attorney?

A good asset protection lawyer has experience in bankruptcies, trusts, will preparation, estate planning, creditor issues, and anything else that could be a threat to your estate. Your estate is all of the property you own, stocks, bonds, bank accounts, and cash that is in your name. Your Port Charlotte asset protection lawyer needs to know all of the threats against your estate and how to protect against those threats.

As you talk to attorneys to find your perfect solution, you should ask what types of professional organizations each attorney belongs to and what types of cases they generally take. The more focus a lawyer puts on the estate planning area and other important areas of asset protection, the more you want that estate planning lawyer on your side.

Can’t I Do This Myself?

Earlier we talked about just a couple of the hazards of DIY asset protection, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. No amount of website coaching is going to replace the real experience of an attorney, especially when it comes to important details and filing paperwork properly.

When you try to do it yourself, there is no one to proofread what you have done to make sure it is correct. The last thing you need is to try and lean on your asset protection plan and find out that something on a form you filed was incomplete or incorrect. Doing something this important yourself could not only cost you thousands of dollars later on, it could also cost you all of your assets in a lawsuit filed by a creditor.

Getting Ready To Meet Your Asset Protection Lawyer

Once you have chosen your attorney, it is time to make that first appointment to get your estate in order. Before you go to that appointment, you need to get some paperwork together that the lawyer will need to start protecting your assets. The first step is developing a goal for your protection plan that your lawyer can use as a road map to putting your plan together. Your lawyer is going to develop your plan based on your needs and ideas.

Your lawyer will need honest answers about your financial past and whether or not you are facing an potential legal struggles right now. You will need to start looking into the different asset protection tools and deciding which ones you are comfortable with and which ones make you feel apprehensive. It is also important that you give serious thought to the time it will take to manage your protection plan. Your lawyer will give you many management options and you need to be prepared to choose one.

The Tools Of Asset Protection

Your Port Charlotte asset protection lawyer has many legal and accounting tools at their disposal that can help to protect your assets now and after you have passed away. Some of the more common asset protection tools are wills and trusts.

A will is a registered dialogue of your personal wishes for how your assets should be distributed after you have passed away. A will can help to make the probate process easier and allow you to determine who the administrator of your estate will be.

A trust is a legal entity that takes possession of your assets and protects them from creditors and even the probate court. In most instances, assets in a trust do not have to go through probate because they are managed by a separate legal entity. There are many ways your attorney can use a trust to protect your assets.

One of the lesser known asset protection tools is the use of a limited liability company, also known as an LLC. This is a legal structure normally used for protecting personal assets of a business owner, but it can also be used to protect the assets of an individual from creditors. When you establish an LLC, it becomes its own legal entity that has many tax benefits as well as acting as a buffer between you and creditors. It is important to note that an LLC only offers asset protection from the inside out and not the outside in. This means, that while your LLC liability may be limited, your LLC is still in jeopardy when it comes to your personal liability. An experienced asset protection attorney will ensure that you and your LLC are protected from the inside out and the outside in.

Our firm has years of experience and we can be the attorney that puts your mind at ease. Give one of our Port Charlotte asset protection lawyers a call to get your questions answered and to set up your very first appointment.