If you are worried about being sued and having assets taken from you, having an estate plan can help you protect yourself. A Washtenaw County estate administration attorney from our firm can work with you to figure out which kinds of tools you can use to protect what you have and ensure that something gets left behind for your loved ones. Let’s look at some common ways to protect yourself from lawsuits.
What Are Some Legal Ways to Protect My Estate From Lawsuits?
There are a few different ways to safeguard assets if you think that lawsuits could be a threat to your estate. Some common techniques include:
Signing assets over to a spouse: Sometimes you can protect assets by signing them over to your spouse. We probably don’t have to point out the obvious issue with this though. What happens if you get divorced? You will probably end up in a dispute over your own assets.
Setting up one or more business entities: Certain business entities, like LLCs and family limited partnerships, offer some protection from lawsuits. A business can help you keep some assets separated, meaning that people who file lawsuits against your business or lawsuits against you personally would not be able to win assets from both.
Buying a bigger insurance policy: A larger insurance policy can also help protect you from lawsuits. If your policy is large enough, your insurer can pay out if you are successfully sued. Your assets remain protected and can be passed on to your loved ones.
Can a Trust Protect My Assets From Lawsuits?
A trust is a good way to protect assets from lawsuits. Some people move their assets offshore and use a foreign asset protection trust, or FAPT, to make it difficult for litigious people to claim a bit of their estate. These foreign countries are often not required to comply with orders from American courts. However, setting up and maintaining such trusts can be expensive and time-consuming.
Michigan is one of the states that allow you to create a DAPT, or domestic asset protection trust. This can help you protect certain assets from lawsuits, but you also have to follow specific instructions in order to benefit from any protections. Making this trust irrevocable and setting it up with certain rules, like a spendthrift clause, are among the requirements. A lawyer from our firm would be able to tell you more.
Do I Need a Lawyer’s Help?
Setting up an estate plan on your own and protecting your assets from lawsuits can be difficult work. It’s a good idea to talk to a professional who knows more about how trusts work and what plaintiffs can do to try and pry money out of your estate.
Meet With Our Estate Planning Attorneys
When you are ready to establish an estate plan of your own, contact Collis, Griffor & Hendra to schedule a consultation. Our experienced estate planning lawyers can help you protect your assets from lawsuits and just about anything else that you can think of.
