Who needs asset protection?
The answer is anyone with equity in their assets. Clearly high risk professionals need it because they already are running risks that are greater than average. Its not just the doctors or the people with high risk professions. It’s anyone with assets they want to hold onto.
We live in a super litigious society and it’s only getting worse. Having an asset protection plan in place is critical! The last four years have proven to my clients that having a plan in place is accomplishing the job of deterring people from continuing to pursue a lawsuit or file one in the first place.
High risk professionals already are targets and business owners especially if you have employees. Just to add a short note about employees, which has become one of the hottest topics for plaintiffs attorneys in the last five years.I have a friend who runs a company in L.A. California, which is a very difficult state to have employees.
My friend who has 200 employees, had one file an employee related lawsuit and it was won by the employer. Nothing was done wrong but the attorney that had the lawsuit started fishing inside the business. The attorney was saying, “hey ask your friends, and tell your friends,” that he has his attorney sitting outside of his business waiting for his employees to do something wrong.
What kind of claims will asset protection planning protect your assets from?
All claims if done properly and this is the distinction between asset protection and insurance. Think of asset protection as your protection from anything. Insurance is protection from a particular thing you do. There are very different ways to go about protecting yourself and I am a firm believer in insurance. I have insurance and I don’t drive my car without it. Although I do have insurance, I don’t consider it full net worth protection. I don’t consider insurance as something that is protecting my pockets.
An asset protection plan on the other hand does a number of different things to minimize risks, such as:
- Protecting you from virtually all claims
- Limiting your exposure from personal guarantees
- Isolating loans
- Augmenting your insurance
There are many cases that I have seen where insurance was insufficient just because the case turned out to be a big one. I’ve seen a lot of automobile cases that have turned out to be very big. Some in the ranges of $300,000 – $1 million of coverage and they started looking at personal assets. When it comes down to it, it’s about making yourself look unattractive. The problem is we spend our lives making ourselves look attractive. This is an area where you would want to look very unattractive to a plaintiffs’ attorney.
Do you have questions which I didn’t address or would like us to assess your situation? Contact Lodmell and Lodmell today! We are here to help.
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