Posts Categorized: Asset Protection

Right of Occupancy Trust: A Trust to Protect Your Home and Your Loved Ones

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law September 9, 2022 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Trusts

A right of occupancy trust allows you to designate a beneficiary to live at your residence or use another piece of real estate for a designated time period or until the beneficiary dies or moves away. To implement this strategy, you include a provision in either your last will and testament or trust agreement that places the real property into a separate sub-trust overseen by the trustee you have selected. The terms of this provision may allocate money to the sub-trust to cover the property’s maintenance expenses. Instructions are also included that outline the beneficiary’s rights and responsibilities, as well as any responsibilities that the trustee will need to undertake on the trust’s behalf.

Finally, the trust instrument directs what happens to the property once the beneficiary passes away. You could choose to keep the property in the trust to be used by another beneficiary or give it outright to a beneficiary. Alternatively, the trustee may sell the property (unless doing so would adversely impact homestead or other rights) and hold the money in trust for someone’s benefit or distribute it outright to a chosen beneficiary. (Selling the property can have adverse impacts on homestead status, and the trustee should get legal advice before selling.) READ MORE

4 Essential Strategies For Protecting Your Family’s Assets

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law August 2, 2022 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills

Insurance is always the first line of defense when it comes to asset protection. Anyone can file a lawsuit against you at any time – and basically for any reason. And whether you are ultimately found at fault or not, defending yourself in court can be extremely costly.

The insurance coverage you purchase should not only pay damages if a lawsuit against you is successful, the policy should also cover the cost of hiring a lawyer to defend you in court, whether you win or lose your case. And because a large judgment could exceed your policies’ coverage limits, you should also seriously consider buying umbrella insurance. READ MORE

Important Questions to Ask When Investing in a Vacation Property

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law July 8, 2022 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills

According to the National Association of Home Builders, in 2018, there were approximately 7.5 million second homes, making up 5.5 percent of the total number of homes. These homes are not only real estate that must be planned for, managed, and maintained, they are also the birthplace of happy memories for you and your loved ones. Following are some significant estate planning questions to consider to ensure that your place of happy memories is protected.

The fate of your vacation property at your death largely depends on how it is currently owned. If you are the property’s sole owner or if you own it as a tenant in common with one or more other people, you need to decide what will happen to your interest in the property. Suppose you own the property with another person as joint tenants with rights of survivorship or with a spouse as tenants by the entirety. READ MORE

Protect Your Children’s Inheritance With A Lifetime Asset Protection Trust

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law April 5, 2022 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Guardians for Minor Children, Power of Attorney, Special Needs Trust, Successor Trustee, Trusts

Creating a will or a revocable living trust protects your kid’s inheritance. Still, in most cases, you’ll be guided to distribute assets through your will or trust to your children at specific ages and stages, such as one-third at age 25, half the balance at 30, and the rest at 35.

If you’ve created an estate plan, check to see if this is how your will or trust leaves assets to your children. If so, you may not have been told about another option to give your children access, control, and airtight asset protection for whatever assets they inherit from you. READ MORE

What to Know about Non-Fungible Tokens

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law April 1, 2022 Asset Protection, Digital Assets, Estate Planning

A nonfungible token (NFT) is a unique digital code that represents a digital item such as art or music, as well as a growing number of physical items, that runs on the blockchain (a secure, decentralized, and cryptography-backed online ledger) and provides proof of ownership of virtual collectibles. That explanation may confuse, and when it comes to NFTs, confusion, and excitement are present in equal parts.

NFTs can generate new revenue streams for creators and be a store of value for collectors. If you own NFTs or plan to invest in them, you should update your estate plan accordingly. Handing down an NFT is more complicated than passing on a physical item or another traditional asset. But with buzz building around NFTs, they could be among the most valuable things in your estate. READ MORE

Protect Your Home, Family, & Assets From The Growing Threat Of Natural Disasters

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law February 28, 2022 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Power of Attorney, Trusts, Wills

The WMO found that climate change has helped drive a five-fold increase in the number of weather-related disasters in the last 50 years, and these calamities are getting more severe each year. As a result of climate change, weather records are being broken all the time, turning previously impossible events into deadly realities.

Despite this threat, most homeowners lack the insurance coverage needed to protect their property and possessions from such calamities. Roughly 64% of homeowners don’t have enough insurance, according to a 2020 report from CoreLogic, the nation’s largest source of property and housing data. One major factor contributing to this lack of coverage is the mistaken belief that homeowners insurance offers adequate protection from natural disasters. READ MORE

Using Real Estate Deeds in Estate Planning

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law January 7, 2022 Asset Protection, Estate Planning

An important question arises regarding the type of deed that should be used for transferring real property into the trust’s name. Several types of deeds can be used, one of which is a general warranty deed. The other types of deeds commonly used in the United States for transferring property are quitclaim deeds and special warranty deeds. Although a complete discussion of the differences among the types of deeds is not possible in an article of this length, the following information briefly explains each type of deed and why someone might want to use it when transferring ownership of real property.

When someone wants to transfer whatever property rights they have in a parcel of property, they can use a quitclaim deed. When individual drafts and sign a quitclaim deed, they are, in effect, making a statement that whatever they own regarding the property described in the deed is now transferred to the transferee. READ MORE

Untangling Tangled Titles: Homeownership, Property Deeds, and Estate Planning

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law December 17, 2021 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills

Do you own the home you live in?

If you are currently living in a property that you inherited, but the deed has not been transferred into your name, you may be surprised to learn that, under the law, you are technically not the owner. This legal situation is known as “tangled title.” A tangled title negatively impacts a property’s current occupant in several ways. It can also harm generational wealth and even contribute to fraud.

Most of their wealth is tied up in their home for many households. However, until a tangled title is resolved, you cannot take full advantage of your home’s value. Untangling a tangled title is often a complicated legal process that requires attorney assistance. There are costs, but not straightening out a title could be much higher in the long term.

Title and deed are legal terms used in real estate. The person who holds the title to a property is that property’s legal owner. A deed is a legal document used to transfer property ownership to another. Although a deed is an official written document, the title merely refers to the concept of ownership rights. You cannot hold a home’s title in your hands.

Titles can often get tangled in the intrafamily transfer of homeownership. A tangled title most commonly occurs when the person whose name is on the deed passes away and a surviving relative continues living in the home without their name being on the deed. READ MORE

The Basics On NFTs: The Newest Cryptoverse Craze

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law December 7, 2021 Asset Protection, Estate Planning

An NFT is a cryptographic token on a blockchain in the most basic terms. It is used to establish proof of ownership of digital artwork, videos, GIFs, collectibles, and other digital assets. While NFTs use the same blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency, NFTs themselves are not a traditional currency, though they can operate similarly to currency. Some people call them JPGs because they are graphic images, but they represent much more than a simple JPG file.

NFTs have been generating a significant buzz in the tech and art sectors for years now. Still, after Christie’s auction house sold a single NFT collage from the digital artist Beeple for a staggering $69.3 million this March, NFTs have begun making mainstream headlines. READ MORE

Are Family Limited Partnerships under Attack?

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law December 3, 2021 Asset Protection, Business Law, Estate Planning

An FLP is a business entity created under state law to hold and manage the property. It comprises partners that can be either individuals or other entities such as trusts and limited liability companies (LLCs). An FLP must have at least one general partner liable for the partnership’s debts and liabilities. The other partners can all be limited partners, which means they are personally insulated from liabilities arising within the partnership. The partnership is generally protected from liabilities that a limited partner may incur outside the partnership.

In an estate planning context, FLPs are often created when a parent or parents own property such as real estate or business interests that they would like to retain control and management of but at the same time want to begin the process of transferring to their children for transfer tax purposes. The parents can form the FLP with themselves (or another entity such as an LLC they own) as the general partner and name their children (or trusts created for their children’s benefit) as limited partners. READ MORE

Questions First Responders Must Consider to Best Protect Their Loved Ones

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law November 19, 2021 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Healthcare, Power of Attorney, Trust Administration & Probate, Trusts, Wills

Being unable to work or make decisions for yourself can seem like an unimaginable scenario. You spend your time coming to other people’s rescue, so it may be difficult for you to imagine a time when you might need help or rescue. However, such things happen to people every day. To best protect yourself and your loved ones, there are a few things you should consider.

Disability insurance allows you to supplement some of or all your income (depending on your level of coverage) while you cannot work. With the proper range in place, you know that, should you be injured, you and your loved ones will still have money coming in to support you. If you have no disability insurance or are concerned that its coverage is insufficient, consider reaching out to an insurance agent to review your current situation and future needs expertly. READ MORE

4 Factors To Consider When Choosing a Business Entity – Part 1

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law August 20, 2021 Asset Protection, Business Law

When starting a business, you have to make a ton of decisions. Deciding what to name your company and hiring employees, what kind of products or services you should sell, and how to fund your operation, getting your business off the ground comes with a nearly endless number of decisions.

all these decisions, perhaps none is more important or has a more significant impact on your success (or failure) than your choice of business entity structure. Indeed, the entity you choose for your business will affect everything from the amount of taxes you pay and what kind of records you are required to keep to how vulnerable your assets are to lawsuits incurred by your company. READ MORE

Preserving Your Money and Property Beyond the Third Generation

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law August 3, 2021 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Trusts, Wills

Whether you have inherited your wealth or have built it yourself, you likely want to share this wealth with the next generation and beyond. Providing for multiple generations through your financial and estate plans is a significant legacy to leave your family. As previously mentioned, ensuring that it is done properly requires careful planning with experienced professionals. To take the next step in your planning, consider the following steps (if you have not already done so): READ MORE

Simultaneous Deaths: What If My Spouse and I Die at the Same Time?

by Tara Cheever ~ Attorney at Law May 7, 2021 Asset Protection, Estate Planning, Personal Representative, Power of Attorney, Probate, Tax, Wills

The chances of a married couple dying in a common accident or within a very short time of one another are probably quite slim. However, it does happen. And it happens frequently enough that most states have laws to address the issue and the problems that can arise from simultaneous deaths. What are these laws, why do we need them, and can we work around them if we need to? READ MORE