Protect Your Lifelong Achievements With Help From Our Skilled North Carolina Asset Protection Attorneys
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Your hard-earned assets and the legacy you've built deserve safeguarding. As you aspire to leave a lasting impact on your family, it's crucial to shield your wealth from potential threats that could unnecessarily wipe out your life's work.
At Carolina Family Estate Planning, we help North Carolina residents create plans to protect their homes, bank accounts, retirement plans, and other personal assets so they can leave a lasting legacy for their loved ones. Contact us today to get help from one of our experienced North Carolina asset protection attorneys.
What Is Asset Protection Planning?
Asset protection planning involves employing strategic tools to shield your property and wealth from taxes, lawsuits, creditors, and other risks. For some, it extends to safeguarding assets from the rising costs of nursing home and long-term care.
Asset protection planning could be something you undertake for yourself or something you set up for your surviving spouse and children. Many parents choose to leave the assets to their children's asset protection trusts, which protect the children’s inheritance from the child’s lawsuits, creditors, divorce, and/or bankruptcy.
Consider this scenario: let’s say you leave $500,000 to your child outright via a will. A year or two after receiving the inheritance, your child’s spouse files for divorce, and they are able to claim $250,000 in the divorce settlement because the $500k went to your child outright. Alternatively, and the better scenario, let’s assume that instead of leaving the $500,000 to your child outright, you left it in an asset protection trust for your child. When your child’s spouse files for divorce, they cannot make a claim to the assets in the trust.
Asset Protection Risks
Numerous risks can jeopardize your financial well-being, including:
- Lack of proper insurance and protection. This can include health insurance, life insurance, home insurance, and auto insurance. Each type of insurance serves to protect you against different types of risks and potential financial burdens.
- Unnecessary taxes due to insufficient planning. Failing to adequately plan your finances can result in paying more taxes than necessary. This can happen if you do not take advantage of tax deductions, credits, and other planning opportunities. Effective tax planning strategies can help reduce your taxable income and ensure that you are not overpaying.
- Unpreparedness for healthcare and long-term care costs. Healthcare and long-term care expenses can be extraordinarily high, especially as you age. Being unprepared for these costs can severely impact your financial stability. It is crucial to have a plan in place, which may include having sufficient savings, investing in health savings accounts (HSAs), and considering long-term care insurance to cover potential future expenses.
- Legal liabilities from accidents or professional malpractice. Accidents can happen at any time, and if you are found legally liable, it could result in substantial financial obligations. Having adequate liability insurance, including professional liability insurance if applicable, can protect you from the financial fallout of such events.
- Debilitating medical debts from unexpected illnesses. Medical debt is a common cause of financial distress and bankruptcy. Ensuring you have comprehensive health insurance coverage can help mitigate this risk and protect your financial well-being.
Your Loved One’s Asset Protection Risks
Your legacy can face premature erosion due to the following:
- Surviving spouse's remarriage and unintentional bequests. When a surviving spouse remarries, there may be unforeseen consequences regarding the distribution of the deceased's estate. This can lead to unintended bequests, where assets might be passed on to the new spouse or their children, rather than the intended heirs.
- Financial unpreparedness for healthcare costs. Many individuals do not adequately plan for the potentially high costs of healthcare as they age. This financial unpreparedness can place a significant burden on their estate and surviving family members. Long-term care, hospital stays, and medical treatments can deplete savings rapidly, leaving little to no inheritance for heirs.
- Poor financial decisions by surviving spouse or heirs. In some cases, the surviving spouse or heirs may make poor financial decisions that can diminish the value of the inherited estate. This could include risky investments, excessive spending, or a lack of financial literacy. Ensuring that heirs are educated in financial management and possibly setting up trusts or other financial protections can help preserve the estate's value for future generations.
- Lawsuits, divorces, or medical events affecting heirs. Heirs may face legal or personal challenges such as lawsuits, divorces, or significant medical events that can impact their inheritance.Taking steps such as setting up protective trusts or other legal mechanisms can help shield the inheritance from these potential threats.
How an Asset Protection Planning Attorney Can Help
Our Cary asset protection attorneys specialize in creating personalized plans for North Carolina residents. Regardless of your financial status, our programs cater to all families. Through various tools, we can help you:
- Shield against lawsuits and healthcare costs. Asset protection strategies can help you safeguard your wealth from potential legal actions and the high costs of healthcare. By implementing these measures, you can reduce the risk of losing your hard-earned assets to unexpected medical bills or litigation.
- Protect your properties from legal claims. With asset protection, you can ensure that your properties, whether personal or commercial, are shielded from legal claims. This means that in the event of a lawsuit, your properties are less likely to be seized or used to satisfy a judgment.
- Safeguard personal and business assets. Asset protection is not just about protecting your properties; it's also about securing all your valuable assets. This includes your savings, investments, and any other assets that could be at risk.
- Structure businesses for enhanced protection. Properly structuring your business can provide an additional layer of protection for your assets. This might involve setting up limited liability companies (LLCs), corporations, or other business entities that can shield your personal assets from business liabilities.
- Shield surviving spouses and heirs from future risks. Asset protection is also crucial for ensuring that your surviving spouse and heirs are protected from future financial risks. By planning ahead, you can make sure that your loved ones are not burdened with legal claims or unexpected costs after your passing.
Don't Be a Sitting Target
Unfortunately, some individuals are more likely to be sued due to their professional or financial stature—in other words, those who have something to lose.
In our years of experience working with thousands of clients in the Wake County area, we find that asset protection planning is particularly important if any of the following apply:
- Your net worth is $1M or more, including home, vacation, or rental properties;
- You are a high-income professional or business owner;
- You own a business with significant value.
Don’t leave yourself or your loved ones stuck dealing with the financial aftermath of a lawsuit, medical bills, or long-term care costs.
A great place to start is by attending our free estate planning workshop. There, you will learn the three secrets to protecting yourself, your loved ones, and your hard earned assets from nursing home expenses and what it will cost if you don’t plan!
For more information on how Carolina Family Estate Planning can help, call our Cary office at 919-586-8222 to discuss the next steps or fill out our online form, and we’ll call you. Don't forget, if you're starting out in your estate planning journey, our Estate Planning Workshop is a great place to start.
