Greater Boston Asset Protection and Estate and Elder Planning Lawyers
Offices in Plymouth, Brockton, Holliston & Hingham, MA
Protecting Your Home and Estate from Creditors | Ensuring that Your Hard-Earned Assets Go to Your Loved Ones
When you are planning for the orderly distribution of your estate, there’s more involved than simply preparing a will that designates who gets specific items of property. If you don’t take proper precautions, you may expose assets to claims from creditors, including debt collectors, accident victims, or anyone else who may make a claim against your estate. There are, however, measures that you can take to minimize that risk.
At Baker Law Group, P.C., our estate planning attorneys have a comprehensive understanding of the law, as well as the strategies and tools available to protect your estate. We have years of experience helping people just like you. Contact our office by e-mail or call us at 800-701-0352 to set up an appointment.
Putting Together an Effective Asset Protection Plan
Asset protection shields certain property and other tangible assets from the claims of your creditors. Creditors that may seek to receive money from your estate include both known and unforeseen debt collectors, accident victims, and others who believe they have a claim of injury or contract rights against you and/or your estate. Asset protection can even protect your personal assets from an ex-spouse.
Because asset protection planning can protect you in a variety of situations, asset protection tools must be carefully chosen that address the unique risks that you face. Given the complexity of such asset protection tools, you will need the assistance of a trained professional attorney to review and evaluate your entire estate in order to determine which assets can be shielded from your creditors.
Our Asset Protection Counsel
We have the knowledge and experience to help you implement the strategy that will best meet your needs. We offer a broad range of strategies and tools, including guidance with respect to:
A homestead declaration—The homestead declaration allows you to protect up to $500,000 of equity in your home from creditors. The homestead declaration will not, however, shield your estate from claims under a mortgage, or against any prior recorded liens. In addition, state, federal and local governments will still be able to file tax liens, and other claims and assessments against the home.
A trust—When you create a trust, you set up a separate legal entity, which can hold title to property. Once you transfer assets into a trust (provided the trust is not revocable), you no longer have legal title to them, so they cannot be attached by a creditor. You may be a beneficiary of the trust, with an interest that can be subject to a lien, but the property is safe from creditors. A trust can be created by your will as a testamentary trust, or can be set up separately during your life as a living trust.
We can help you prepare and execute the full range of irrevocable trusts, including income only trusts, Medicaid trusts, discretionary trusts, support trusts, special needs, and self-settled trusts.
Though many believe that estate planning should only be used in preparation of death, using a professional asset protection lawyer for estate planning can also provide significant protections for your assets while you are still alive. If you are interested in learning about asset protection and other estate planning tools, contact our experienced Massachusetts estate planning attorneys or call the Baker Law Group, P.C. at 800-701-0352 to set up a confidential meeting.