An asset protection attorney can help you with the complicated process of asset protection planning. Planning must be legally correct and factually accurate in order to protect your assets. An experienced asset protection attorney is the person who will direct you toward the best asset protection solution. The design of an asset protection plan is the most important aspect of asset protection. Your lawyer will guide you through a sequence of steps and task in the development of your personalized asset protection solution:
Review of Current Assets
The first step in asset protection planning is the asset protection lawyer’s discovery and review of your assets and your family situation. You will describe for your lawyer all of your assets, including, most importantly, how each asset is legally owned. If you are unsure how financial assets are titled you should provide your asset protection attorney with a copy of a recent monthly statement. Many people have interests in corporations or LLCs that operate businesses or own property. The attorney needs to understand how your shares or other interests in business entities are titled on the business records. The lawyer also needs to know your family situation, specifically, whether you are married and whether you support legal dependents.
Current Litigation
Your attorney needs to understand whether your are currently a party in civil litigation or have been threatened with litigation. If there is already a money judgment entered against you, then the lawyer will want to know the amount of the judgment, when the judgment was entered, in what Florida county or foreign state the judgment was entered, and whether the judgment creditor is actively attempting to collect on a judgment or a pre-judgment debt. Your current litigation status is important in order for the asset protection attorney to determine what options for non-exempt assets will endure a fraudulent transfer challenge.
Exemption Assessment
Based upon your schedule and description of assets, including the legal title of assets, the asset protection attorney will explain which of your assets are exempt from creditors and which assets are currently non-exempt. The asset protection lawyer will explain whether your family situation enables you to exempt future income from judgment collection. Next, the attorney will work with you to develop a plan to best protect your non-exempt assets in light of your litigation status and your family situation. The attorney should explain all viable options to better protect assets. The attorney should make sure you understand each asset protection tool, and the asset protection attorney should also describe the costs and likely effectiveness of alternative asset protection tools.
Implementation and Scheduling
After you understand what assets are exempt and what tools are available to better protect non-exempt assets, you can decide which of the available solutions you want to pursue. You will then work together with your asset protection attorney to develop an implementation plan. You and your attorney should understand what work you will perform yourself and what legal work will be handled by the asset protection attorney. You reasonably may ask your attorney for an estimate of his fees and the time it will take to conduct further legal services.
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Factors in Choosing an Asset Protection Attorney
Location and experience are important in selecting an attorney. Alper Law is located near Orlando, Florida, but most of our clients are situated outside of Orlando area. Our client base extends from Orlando throughout the state of Florida. Many of our clients are located in other states currently, but are considering moving to Orlando or other Florida cities for asset protection. The physical location of your asset protection attorney is not important as long as the attorney is knowledgeable about the applicable laws and the asset protection attorney has several years of experience practicing is this legal area.
