WAEstate

Working hard, saving regularly, and investing wisely will certainly ensure that you amass a moderate to large estate; however, if you fail to protect the assets that make up your estate your beneficiaries will ultimately lose out in the end. One of the most potentially devastating threats to your estate assets is the federal gift and estate tax. The Lincolnshire asset protection planning attorneys at Hedeker Law, Ltd. explain what you need to know about gift and estate taxes in order to protect your hard-earned assets. Federal Gift and Estate Tax Basics The federal gift and estate tax is effectively [Read more…]

If you hope to be able to pass down assets to loved ones after you are gone, you must first ensure that the assets you accumulate over the course of your lifetime are protected.  To do this, you may benefit from the assistance of an asset protection lawyer. An asset protection lawyer will help you recognize any potential threats to your assets and assist you in devising strategies to address those threats. While some of those threats are well-known, you will likely find that there are also unknown threats to your assets that you must include in your asset protection [Read more…]

When the owner of a small business fails to plan ahead, it dramatically increases the likelihood that the business will fail to successfully transition to the next generation. One common cause of that failure is federal gift and estate taxes. When the business owner dies, all of the business assets are subject to taxation because they remain part of his/her estate. All too often, assets necessary to the survival of the business must be liquidated just to cover the tax bill. Failing to plan ahead remains problematic even if the owner does not plan to pass the business down because [Read more…]

If you are entering your “Golden Years” you have probably spent several daces of your life working hard, saving, and investing wisely in order to accumulate sufficient assets to live comfortably during your retirement years. If all goes well, you may even have assets left over to pass down to future generations. While you may finally be able to kick back and stop worrying about making money, do not make the mistake of thinking you no longer have to worry about protecting the money you already made. Asset protection planning should always be a component of a comprehensive estate plan, [Read more…]

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…]