An Introduction to Asset Protection
Asset Protection is a topic few people understand. Today we begin a multi-part series on Asset Protect to help you understand this topic. There are two rules to Asset Protection and five levels to Asset Protection that you should keep in mind. We begin with describing these rules and reviewing the five levels.
The first rule of Asset Protection is that you will be in a much stronger position if you set up the asset protection structure before you need it. If you wait until a claim has arisen against you or your company, it is much more difficult to protect assets.
The second rule of Asset Protection is that, unless you are willing to give all of your assets away, you may have to take multiple steps to protect your assets. Think of asset protection in terms of levels. Not everyone will need or want to use every level of asset protection, but everyone should be using some of these asset protection techniques.
The Five Levels of Asset Protection:
1. Everyone in a business or profession should be using one or more properly formed and maintained business entities.
2. Everyone should take care of basic estate planning.
3. Most people should be taking advantage of exemptions and marital planning.
4. Anyone with significant assets should be considering asset protection for all investment assets.
5. Families with significant assets should consider setting up long term entities for family asset protection and estate and gift tax benefits.
Tomorrow we will continue this discussion of Asset Protection with an explanation of the first level of Asset Protection.
If You have questions involving Asset Protection please post a comment below, or contact JGPC business attorney Jim Gulseth: