Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog

A Florida Asset Protection Lawyer is of most use when you do not have any potential liabilities. When you have a known creditor, you have to be concerned with fraudulent conveyances and fraudulent transfers. Generally if you participate in a fraudulent conveyance or transfer the court can undo a transaction within 4 years of its occurrence.

A Fraudulent Transfer occurs when you transfer an asset to put it outside the reach of a creditor.

A Fraudulent Conveyance occurs when you transfer an asset for less than full value and this causes harm to a potential creditor.

There are many ways of protecting assets as part of an overall Florida Estate Plan but careful consideration must be taken of your present situation and circumstances. Some of the tools used by Florida Asset Protection Lawyers include creating Florida Asset Protection Trusts, Domestic asset protection trusts, limited liability companies, limited partnerships, Florida LLLPs, and different forms of ownership.

In addition to how the assets are structured there can be different ways in which you spend "at risk" money and save money that is not at risk. If you would like to learn more about Florida Asset Protection, contact us to discuss your circumstances and objectives with a Florida Asset Protection Lawyer.

Note: Asset Protection is a complex practice area and as such we do not offer free consultations in this area. A typical consultation takes 2 or more hours.

Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPT) have become the latest rage in estate planning and asset protection. We have generally found that there are better ways of protecting assets from creditors by using traditional estate planning that has case-law history.

In a recent US bankruptcy case, a DAPT was invalidated and the 10-year bankruptcy statute of limitations in regards to trusts was upheld. This was an Alaskan case using an Alaskan DAPT but similar results should be expected in other jurisdictions.

If you are interested in Florida Asset Protection or Asset Protection in Jacksonville, contact a Florida Asset Protection Lawyer to discuss your circumstances and options that are available to help protect your assets from creditors or increase the ability to negotiate with creditors.

In Florida, all marital assets are subject to equitable distribution. If you leave assets to your children in a revocable trust, they can also be at risk to equitable distribution depending on the circumstances and how they are used. If you create an Irrevocable Pure Grantor Trust (IPUG) and leave assets to your children in their own IPUG they will remain separate property and are only subject to alimony and child support as a last resort. Generally these assets will be protected as separate property in the case of a divorce which occurs in around 50% of all marriages.

To discuss how an IPUG trust can protect assets from your creditors and those of your beneficiaries, contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer to discuss your circumstances and goals.

Currently the Revocable Living Trust is the most popular type of trust for estate planning. With the current estate tax exemption at 5 Million dollars, many have begun to ask if there is a need for such a trust. More over the Revocable Living Trust provides no asset protection.

Currently 99.7% of the US population has less than 5 Million in Assets. While a Revocable Living Trust can offer privacy, probate avoidance, easier management of one's assets, and numberous other benefits, it does not offer any asset protection. Many people really want an irrevocable trust, but do not want the consequences of the traditional irrevocable trust. While there are many types of irrevocable trusts, most either cause a loss of control over the assets by the grantor, loose the stepped up basis, or cause the trust to pay taxes at the highest tax rate with as little as $11,000 in earnings.

There are variations of the irrevocable trust that can solve one or more of these issues, but there is only one type of Irrevocable Trust that has the flexibility of a revocable trust, provides asset protection from the creditors of the creators as well as the beneficiaries, allows the income to be taxed at personal rates, and provides for stepped up basis upon the death of the creator.

While the IPUG: Irrevocable Pure Grantor Trust defies the logic of most estate planners, it has been designed using common law, trust law, and tax law to provide Asset Protection, taxing at a personal level, the ability to control the income and principal, stepped up basis and even can even help in nursing home qualification or Medicaid eligibility.

If you would like to find out how you can upgrade your standard revocable trust or create a new Florida Asset Protection Trust, contact a Florida Estate Planning Lawyer that is knowledgeable about the Irrevocable Pure Grantor Trust and how to structure it to accomplish your goals.

Asset protection is one of the most important planning tools for America's aging population, especially in our current tumultuous economy. One new tool in protecting your assets is the Irrevocable Pure Grantor Trust -- AKA, the iPug™.

iPug™ trusts are not based on any state statute, but are instead grounded in century-old and well established common law. This means more stability in courts and more peace of mind for those who opt to use an iPug™ trust. In fact, the iPug™ is beneficial for nearly all Americans. This is because the iPug™ is taxed as a grantor trust, meaning the taxes are passed through to the grantor -- the trust itself is not individually taxed. This is beneficial for anyone with assets valued at less than $5 million -- i.e., over 99% of Americans.

There are three types of iPug™ trusts:

(1) the income-only version,
(2) the control-only version, and
(3) the third-party version.

In the income-only version, the grantor of the trust gives up the rights to the assets he or she puts in the trust -- these assets are only available to the beneficiaries. However, the grantor retains the rights to any income the trust accumulates. One downside to this version of the trust is that creditors also have access to this profit, though they do not have access to the any other assets within the trust.

The control-only version of the trust gives the grantor full control over all assets and all income of the trust. Creditors cannot reach any of the assets therein, and the grantor can distribute the assets to anyone he or she chooses -- the only exception being the actual grantor.

Finally, the third-party version is where grantors create the trust for the benefit of a third party. Usually, this involves adult children creating the trust for their parents for their parents' lifetime. This version is primarily used when parents have already transfered assets to children but are affraid or concerned that if they need them, they might not have access to the asset. This version is created and the parents are named as the beneficiaries of the trust. Further, assets within the trust are protected from the children's creditors and are not affected by divorce.

While most people feel they have to be super rich to use Asset Protection trusts an IPUG™ Trust is a Self-Settled Asset Protection Trust for that makes sense for regular people and offers Medicaid compliance that works in all states. It protects client assets from creditors, predators and nursing homes, while permitting the grantor to be trustee and have customized access.

The iPug™ Trust was created by utilizing universal, fundamental trust and common law principles dating back to the statute of uses and are not reliant or dependent upon state or federal specific asset protection laws. "In essence, the iPug™ Trust is an Irrevocable Grantor Trust for income and estate tax purposes.

Why is this important to most Americans? The IPUG™ Trust not only provides advantageous tax benefits but it also provides asset protection. Most Irrevocable trusts do not provide the beneficaries with a full step-up in basis and allow the grantor to control the funds.

With the increase in the estate tax exemption to $5 million the iPug™ will be usable by more than 99.5% of Americans.