Assets represents safety for you while you are alive and for your family after your death. But while you are alive, there are many sides threatening your hard-earned assets such as creditors, bankruptcy or lawsuits. In fact, fewer than half of the Americans are no longer worried about these cases because they are protected by an Estate Planning Attorney. Because of your lack of legal understanding, you should also rely on those qualified lawyers to protect your assets. They have special techniques to handle risks. For example, bankruptcy could be minimized by specific strategies, the risk of a lawsuit could be avoided by an insurance coverage, and creditors’ threat could be protected against by creating a trust.
What does estate planning mean?
Estate planning is a preparation for how your assets will be transferred after your death. While you are getting older, you become worried that your hard-earned assets couldn’t be transferred safely to your beloved family. So, you should start the process of estate planning earlier. If you become incapacitated, estate planning can also manage your assets when you can’t manage them and ensure safe transfer of assets in the event of your death.
How an Estate planning attorney protects your assets
The risk of receiving a lawsuit increases by the size of your asset portfolio. These lawsuits may come from many people, your neighbors, customers, employees and sometimes from your family members. Sometimes they have the right and sometimes they don’t. Winning a lawsuit just means you have won a battle but you are still under threat. If your assets are unreachable, others will not have the motivation to suit you. That’s how an estate planning attorney work. It follow some effective legal strategies in order to transfer assets from your name to other protected vehicles. The following are considered the best ways by which an estate planning attorney can protect your assets.
Writing a will
This is considered the least expensive way of protecting your assets, it will cost you only a few hundred dollars for the attorney to prepare a will if your financial condition is simple. But if it is complex, the attorney may charge more for the will. As a protection for your assets, your spent money for writing a will at the attorney is well spent because it will represents your final words regarding how your personal and financial assets should be distributed after your death. You will be able to determine the amounts that should be transferred for certain parties and decide who shouldn’t share is this distribution. Once you pass, your family will find your written will as a guide map.
Creating a trust
This way of protection is a higher level up from wills and it is considered a must if you own substantial assets. While wills protects your assets after death, trusts also protects them during being alive. The estate planning attorney can create different types of trusts, but there are two main types to consider, the revocable trust and the irrevocable trust.
Revocable trust
These trusts are also known as living trusts. This type is growing in popularity but in fact it is considered a two edged weapon. By creating a revocable trust, you still have an amount of control over your assets that are inserted in the trust. This mean you can revoke this trust once you want and this will enable you to regain access to your assets in the trust. You can think about it. If you were suited by someone while your assets are protected by a revocable trust, they will have the chance to access to your assets like you have when you revoke the trust. This means your asset ownership may still under threat.
Irrevocable trust
This type is more recommended if you seek a real protection for your assets because it is difficult to be revoked. When you create an irrevocable trust in the attorney, you will transfer your assets into a safeguard vehicles without the permission to regain ownership of these assets. So, lawsuits, creditors and even taxes will not be able to reach your assets because they are no longer owned by you.
Insurance
Insurance is an essential element to consider in your estate planning. It is like an umbrella that will protect your assets against many legal challenges. There are many types of insurance that cover variable areas in your life. The following are some of the essential insurance types to consider for your estate planning.
- Life insurance
- Home insurance
- Health insurance
- Auto insurance
- Disability insurance
What is the best time to contact an estate planning attorney?
The reason why contacting an estate planning attorney should be as early as possible is that you could be exposed to a lawsuit anytime especially when you have a reachable assets. When you contact an estate planning attorney to protect your assets before a lawsuit, your assets will not be accessed by creditors. But in the middle of a lawsuit, your assets couldn’t be blocked. Estate planning could find ways after a lawsuit, but it is better to be done before it.
Advantages of estate planning for your family
When you have an estate planning, you don’t have to worry any more neither about your assets nor your family. Both will be protected and the following are some of the advantages that will be left to your family.
- Minimize tax and court expenses: if you die without having an estate plan, your assets will not be transferred to your heirs without a probate process. This process is costly and it will deduct the court and attorney’s fees before asset distribution. In contrast, an estate plan will allocate your assets to predetermined parties without the involvement of the court.
- Ensure safety for your minor child: without an estate plan, your child could be left in limbo if both of you and your spouse are exposed to an accident that lead to your death. A written will could be protective in this case as you can determine the guardian who will care about your child in such cases.
- Immediate transfer of assets: an estate plan will protect your beloved ones against heavy affairs of the court that may force your heirs to wait months or even years before receiving your hard-earned assets. An estate plane will enable them to receive your assets immediately not to affect their lifestyle.
So, be wise and hurry up an estate planning attorney to protect your assets and your family against future risks.