WAEstate

Estate planning, when done well, combines a variety of inter-related goals and objectives into one cohesive plan. Ensuring that your estate assets are distributed according to your wishes at the end of your life is likely a primary goal. Protecting those assets over the course of your lifetime, however, should also be one of your estate planning goals if you want to be certain there will be assets left to distribute after you are gone. One of the threats to your assets that you may not have considered is the very real possibility that you (or a spouse) will need [Read more…]

A successful estate plan will focus on more than just the distribution of your estate assets when you are gone. It will also help protect and grow those assets while you are alive and ensure that you and your loved ones are secure throughout the course of your lifetime and beyond. One specific thing you need your estate plan to do is to protect your estate from git and estate taxes that could be levied on your estate after your death. The Lincolnshire asset protection lawyers at Hedeker Law, Ltd. explain how to plan for the impact of estate taxes. [Read more…]

You may already recognize the need to have a comprehensive estate plan in place. That plan, however, should accomplish more than just directing the distribution of your estate assets after you are gone. In order for you to have any assets left to distribute, for example, you must protect the assets you acquire over the course of your lifetime. You may have heard that trusts are frequently used to protect assets. What type of trust protects assets though? Why Is Protecting Your Assets Necessary? If you take a minute to stop and consider the issue, you will quickly realize that [Read more…]

For many people, starting a small business is a dream come true. If you are one of those people, and you hope to one day pass down your business to the next generation, planning ahead is the key. Sadly, many family businesses do not successfully make the transition from one generation to the next because the matriarch or patriarch failed to plan for the transfer of ownership. There are a number of strategies you can use to transfer your business down to the next generation, including a Family Limited Partnership. A Family Limited Partnership, or FLP, is a type of [Read more…]

No one enters into a marriage planning for the marriage to end. The reality, however, is that about half of all first marriages do end in divorce in the United States. The divorce rate is even higher for second, and subsequent, marriages. If you have significant and/or sentimental assets, and you are planning to marry, you need to take steps to protect those assets against the possibility of divorce. You can do that by including asset protection planning in your comprehensive estate plan. How Does Divorce Threaten Your Assets? When you are deeply in love and seeing life through the [Read more…]

For most people, the primary goal of an estate plan is to ensure that their assets are passed down to help provide for loved ones upon their death. For those assets to be available to be passed down, however, they must also be protected over the course of your lifetime from a wide variety of threats. In fact, asset protection tools and strategies should be a routine part of any well thought out estate plan. The asset protection lawyers at Hedeker Law, Ltd. explain how you can use an irrevocable living trust to protect the assets that make up your [Read more…]

Are you already saving money for your retirement? Are you disciplined with your savings and careful with how you invest those savings? Is all of that part of a larger plan to ensure that you have amassed a sufficient retirement nest egg to live comfortably during your “Golden Years?” If so, then you undoubtedly would not want something to threaten your plan, or more specifically your retirement nest egg. There may, however, be a fairly serious and potentially damaging threat to your retirement nest egg – and you may not even be aware of it. The Lincolnshire asset protection lawyers [Read more…]

For many people, one of the primary reasons for creating an estate plan is to ensure that the assets they spend a lifetime accumulating are distributed according to their wishes at the time of death. If that applies to you then there is something else you need to also consider in your estate plan – asset protection. Unless you protect the assets you own, there won’t be anything left to pass down to your intended beneficiaries at the end of your life. A trust can be an excellent asset protection tool if it’s the right type of trust. The asset [Read more…]

When you contemplate your estate plan, your focus is likely on creating a plan that ensures your loved ones will be cared for after you are gone. Executing a Last Will and Testament is one way to pass down assets that will provide for your loved ones in your absence; however, there must be assets left to pass down for that to work. The estate you work so hard to build up while you are alive can only help those you leave behind if your estate assets survive long enough to do so. It is for this reason that many [Read more…]

Estate planning, when done properly, should accomplish a wide range of inter-related goals. While the distribution of your estate assets at the end of your life will remain part of your estate plan, additional goals should be included as well to create a comprehensive estate plan. Protecting the assets that you acquire over the course of your lifetime, for example, should be a primary goal so that you have something left to pass down to your loved ones after you are gone.  The asset protection attorneys at Hedeker Law, Ltd., explain why incapacity planning can help you protect your assets. [Read more…]