A Personal Approach To Resolving Your Estate Planning & Litigation Concerns

Customized Asset Protection Strategies And Answers To Your Questions

Creditors, lawsuits and taxes represent a triple threat to the wealth you and your family have accumulated. The attorneys of Solomon Dwiggins Freer & Steadman, LTD. provide sophisticated asset protection planning to anticipate and neutralize those threats through legally compliant estate planning tools.

Below we address some basics about asset protection. We are happy to schedule a meeting to discuss specific strategies best suited to your portfolio.

What are the benefits of asset protection?

The main goal is shielding assets from future creditors. This can be extremely important because there’s no absolute way to eliminate every possible threat to your assets, investment or business. Asset protection gives you peace of mind that you are in the best position to avoid potentially devastating events from diminishing your assets.

Another benefit of asset protection comes in the form of estate planning and succession. Through trusts and other legal mechanisms, we can help you determine how you wish to pass along your property. We can implement a plan that helps isolate assets from litigation that may arise from disappointed beneficiaries.

What options are available to protect assets in Nevada?

The best means for protecting your assets will depend upon the situation. We analyze your portfolio of assets and develop a comprehensive approach that allows you to best protect those assets. We utilize trusts and other tools to ensure that property is not only protected, but also passes to the beneficiaries that you wish to receive them upon your passing. One example is creating trusts in conjunction with a limited liability company (LLC) and statutory exemptions for layered protection.

What type of trusts are used in an asset protection plan?

We commonly use the spendthrift trust, an irrevocable trust with a provision that forbids transferring the beneficiary’s interest to a third party. Thus the assets are virtually untouchable by creditors until the assets are distributed to the beneficiary.

This level of asset protection was once exclusive to offshore trusts. A decade ago, the Nevada Legislature authorized a self-settled spendthrift trust commonly known as the Nevada asset protection trust. This domestic solution offers three key advantages: (1) It complies with state law, (2) it costs much less to create and (3) it allows the grantor to also be the beneficiary, which is not allowed in many states. Read more about the Nevada asset protection trust.

Can I access assets in an asset protection trust?

No. The grantor forfeits control of those assets once they are placed in the trust. You cannot withdraw from or borrow against the trust, and you cannot later cancel it or change your mind about the beneficiaries.

Are asset protection trusts ‘fireproof’?

No trust offers absolute immunity. Spendthrift trusts are safe from creditors only so long as the assets remain in the trust. Once they are distributed to the beneficiary, those assets are fair game. But there are strategies to continue or recapture the asset protection, such as using the proceeds to purchase a home or another property for the benefit of the beneficiary.

Also, asset protection only applies to future claims. Placing assets in a trust to thwart an active creditor claim is considered fraud, subject to criminal and civil penalties.

Sophisticated Strategies For Complex Estates

We counsel many professionals, business owners and others who are more vulnerable to lawsuits and need maximum asset protection. We enable you to take advantage of the generous laws of Nevada toward that end, in conjunction with your goals for generational transfer and business succession.

To discuss asset protection in detail with one of our attorneys, call (702) 853-5483 to arrange a consultation or use our online form.