It is natural to want to shield your wealth from creditors and other individuals hoping to take your hard-earned assets. Asset protection is about more than ensuring your creditors are unable to pull the rug out from under you. The right approach can ensure that your family and future generations can rely on your savings to make a better life.
The law offers some tools for protection, but it can be a difficult process without help from an experienced estate planning attorney on your side. Let a San Antonio asset protection lawyer at Begum Peláez-Prada PLLC help you develop a plan.
Protecting your assets involves the use of legal strategies to insulate valuable property from other parties—primarily creditors. It is important to note that this process uses lawful means to avoid collection efforts as opposed to relying on fraud. Often, these efforts are made as part of a larger estate plan.
The objective is to make both real and personal property unreachable by most creditors. There is a range of options, including transferring ownership into a trust or placing funds into vehicles that creditors cannot legally reach. This area of the law is complex, and a single error can upend years of planning. A seasoned San Antonio asset protection attorney could ensure you take the correct steps.
Every person has their own reasons for creating a plan to secure their property. One of the most common reasons to seek the help of a knowledgeable San Antonio lawyer is to protect your assets from credit collectors. There are numerous tools that can help avoid collection efforts and make certain that an heir ultimately inherits what is theirs. A common approach is to transfer them to a different legal entity, like a trust. This process is also useful for individuals looking to reduce their personal exposure to business debts. Creating a legal entity—like an LLC or a corporation—builds a barrier between what an individual owns and what their business owns.
As a San Antonio legal professional could explain in further detail, Texas law states that you can protect specific assets like retirement accounts and your family home. For example, it is common to create a trust to legally own assets during the course of someone’s life. When they pass away, these legal entities will automatically transfer their wealth to the chosen beneficiaries.
Many people also rely on employee-sponsored retirement funds, given that this money cannot be reached through collection efforts. Others take advantage of the Texas homestead exemption, which allows homeowners to secure their primary residence and save on their taxes. This process can also make use of gifting property to loved ones and family members. However, such behavior is carefully regulated, and any attempt to avoid tax obligations through improper gifting can carry serious consequences.
It is never too early to think about the future. Now is the time to discuss your options with experienced legal counsel. The right approach could have a significant financial impact on you and your family, so reach out to San Antonio asset protection lawyer Sasha Begum to discuss your options today.
