Asset Protection
The foundation of sound asset protection planning is the cost-effective avoidance of unnecessary exposure of personal assets to the claims of potential creditors. At its simplest, this planning begins with "umbrella" liability insurance, married couples' ownership of their homes in tenancy by the entirety as opposed to joint tenancy, and basic "exemption planning" by the preferential holding of assets in forms that are exempt from judgment execution. At a somewhat greater level of complexity, this planning includes the maximum cost-effective use of limited liability entities (one of Mr. Sawyier's foremost practice areas). At its most complex, this planning will also involve the use of irrevocable offshore and domestic asset protection trusts with trust "protector" provisions although even an ordinary revocable grantor trust, if fully funded, confers an exceptional measure of asset protection after the grantor's death.
In the financial planning area, asset protection also requires judicious diversification of investments with an attention to the possibilities of foreign investments and precious metals as a hedge against the declining dollar.
All the members of the firm seek their clients' maximum cost-effective asset protection as one of the key objects of estate and business planning. Mr. Sawyier's experience in bankruptcy law and creditors' rights, added to the firm's expertise in trusts and limited liability entities (a subject on which Mr. Sawyier lectures for the National Business Institute and other business organizations), enables the members of the firm to assist clients for a reasonable fee to formulate and carry out their optimal asset protection plans.
Our asset protection services include:
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