Estate Planning as Asset Protection

Miami Estate Planning Lawyers Explain Your Best Options

Photo of estate forms

Proper estate planning goes well beyond a simple testamentary will. If you are a high-wealth individual, the benefits of estate planning are two-fold:

  • Protect your assets from seizure via creditors, high taxes, litigation or divorce
  • After you pass on, your assets go to the intended parties instead of the government in the form of taxes

Trusts are an essential component of both estate planning and asset protection. Trusts allow you to protect property and create conditions for other people to receive them. The following trusts are types of estate planning as asset protection that might be worth considering. Estate planning can be a complicated and intimidating area of law, and you want to proceed carefully. Consult with our estate planning lawyers to learn more about which trusts are best for your situation.

Types of Trusts for Asset Protection

  • Irrevocable life insurance trusts, ILITs, can protect your assets from creditors. These forms of trusts allow the trust grantor to place a life insurance policy that is protected from taxes and creditors. ILITs allow you to pass the life insurance benefits to your beneficiaries while reducing or avoiding estate taxes and other penalties.
  • Grantor retained annuity trusts, or GRATS, allow you to pass money to family members without paying a gift tax. IRS tables and the terms of your annuity control how much you can transfer through these trusts.
  • Qualified personal residence trusts, or QPRTs, let the grantor transfer ownership of a piece of physical property, such as a house or condo, to the trust for the benefit of another. Depending on how you set up the QPRT, you can stay in the home for a set number of years before it passes to someone else.
  • Charitable remainder trusts, or CRTs, allow the grantor to leave the remainder of an estate to a charity.

Estate Planning Attorneys Offer Asset Protection Measures in Miami and Tampa

You have worked hard for your business, earnings and property, and you have the right to keep them using all the legal measures available to you. To learn more about asset protection options available to you, and to get started on safeguarding your valuable property, contact our estate planning lawyers. We offer free consultations to potential clients so you can explore your options without any obligations.