ESTATE PLANNING services

Asset protection is the process of safeguarding your assets from potential risks and liabilities that may arise in the future. It involves legal and financial strategies that aim to protect your assets from creditors, lawsuits, and other legal judgments.

Asset protection is essential for individuals and businesses that want to protect their hard-earned wealth and assets from potential risks. It can be achieved through various legal structures, such as trusts, limited liability companies, and insurance policies.

Asset protection planning can also help you to minimize taxes and increase privacy, as well as to provide for the long-term management of your assets in case of incapacity or death.

By implementing effective asset protection strategies, you can ensure that your assets are well-protected and that your financial future is secure. However, asset protection planning can be complex and requires the guidance of experienced professionals who can help you navigate the legal and financial landscape to achieve your goals.

 Asset management refers to the process of managing and maximizing the value of assets owned by individuals or businesses. Assets can include physical assets such as real estate, machinery, and equipment, as well as financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

The primary goal of asset management is to optimize the performance of assets and to ensure that they are being used in the most efficient and effective manner possible. This can involve a variety of strategies, including buying and selling assets, diversifying portfolios, and monitoring market trends and economic indicators.

Asset management is important for individuals and businesses that want to achieve their financial goals and maximize their returns on investments. It can help to mitigate risk, improve cash flow, and provide for long-term financial stability.

Asset management services are typically provided to individuals and businesses helping them to develop customized investment strategies that are tailored to their specific needs and goals, and to implement those strategies in a disciplined and effective manner.

Asset management is a crucial component of any successful investment strategy. By effectively managing assets, individuals and businesses can achieve their financial objectives and build a strong foundation for long-term financial success.

Planning for the future is important to ensure that your children or loved ones are well taken care of and your assets are preserved. One way to ensure that assets are protected is to set up a trust. To find out if a trust is appropriate for you, consult with us for estate planning purposes.

There are different kinds of trusts that serve various purposes, but they all begin with a trust agreement, a trustee (the person you designate to administer the trust assets), and at least one beneficiary.  Read on for a brief overview of the different kinds of trusts and the benefits each type of trust can provide.
 

The most important reason for setting up a trust is to ensure your children will receive their inheritance without any problems.  Trusts can also help protect assets from creditors, reduce estate taxes, and eliminate probate time (the amount of time spent in court on a person’s death).  
 

As a rule of thumb, parents with young children who have assets and life insurance amounting to more than $300,000 should consider setting up a trust. 
 

While many people think trusts are only for ultra wealthy families, trusts are commonly used by middle and upper-middle class families as well.  Another misconception about trusts is that there are ongoing fees throughout the entire time you have a trust. With the exception of very large trusts, most trusts don’t incur any significant ongoing fees.
 

A testamentary trust is the most common type of trust set up by parents of young children.  A testamentary trust is created by your will, and it only goes into effect after you pass, so no maintenance is necessary during your lifetime. In order to modify a testamentary trust, you make changes to your will. One benefit of a testamentary trust is that it prevents your kids from having access to their inheritance at an early age.  In the absence of a trust, kids can inherit large sums of money at age 18, when they lack an ability to make smart financial decisions.    

If you have more than one child, a testamentary trust provides flexibility to allocate assets to your children fairly in a way that takes into consideration each child’s unique needs.  For example, if one child develops a disability or an unexpected medical need, you wouldn’t want that child’s share to be depleted relative to his or her siblings.  A testamentary trust also prevents your children’s inheritance from adversely affecting their eligibility for college aid, since the trust assets are not technically owned by the children. A testamentary trust can also be set up in a way that protects against a second spouse in the event that the surviving spouse were to remarry or have children with another partner.  The trust ensures that the money is used solely for your children and your spouse. If you have a child with special needs, a testamentary trust can provide for them without jeopardizing their eligibility for government benefits, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income payments. 
 

The main benefit of a revocable living trust is that it allows your estate to bypass probate—which is the court process that transfers ownership of your assets to your heirs when you pass away.  Probate is a public process that can be lengthy, costly, and burdensome for your family (especially if you live in Brooklyn or Queens, where the probate courts are notoriously slow).

While probate can tie up money in court for months, assets in a revocable living trust are accessible immediately to cover important expenses like child care, rent payments, or a mortgage. A revocable living trust can also keep the value of your assets private; otherwise, the amount left to your loved ones becomes public information. Revocable living trusts are also commonly used by international families because some probate courts will not allow a foreign person to be appointed as the sole executor or the sole trustee of a testamentary trust created in a will.  Trustees of revocable living trusts are not subject to court approval, and there is no restriction on the appointment of a foreign individual.
 

An irrevocable trust is a type of trust that is primarily used for estate tax planning.  Parents can transfer a life insurance policy into the name of the trust so that the death benefit is not included in their estate for estate tax purposes.  For this reason, this type of trust is often referred to as  irrevocable life insurance trust, or an ILIT.  The down side of an irrevocable trust is that it is, not surprisingly, irrevocable, so you can’t take the money back out of the trust – at least not without some difficulty.  Because life insurance is not generally used during your life, it is an ideal asset to transfer to an irrevocable trust.

Another benefit of an irrevocable trust is that the trust assets are shielded from any future creditors of the person setting up the trust, as well as any creditors of the beneficiary.

Let us assess your particular needs and assist you on your way to truly meaningful asset protection.