Asset Protection in Tampa

Tampa Asset Protection Planning

Protect your asset portfolio from legal assault

A nanny who worked for a wealthy business owner was driving her employer's children to school.  She was talking on her cell phone when she ran a red light and crashed into another car, killing a family of three.  State law stipulated that in such cases both the driver and the vehicle owner were liable.  Both the business owner and his wife were named on the car's registration, as they were on all of their personal and professional assets.  Due to the lack of protection planning, the accident ultimately put all of the business owner's assets in jeopardy.

The United States is host to 95 percent of all lawsuits filed worldwide. A new lawsuit is filed every 30 seconds, and if you own your own business, you have a one in four chance of being sued this coming year.

Joe Gonzalez, PA is an experienced and creative law firm focused on protecting your wealth and property from taxes, lawsuits, and undesired estate plans.  Based in Tampa, Florida, Mr. Gonzalez can help you guard your assets from seizure and forfeiture.

The first steps to financial security

The following are guidelines to help small business owners protect their personal and business assets from frivolous lawsuits and the possibility of judgments:

• Protect your assets before the need for protection arises. Asset protection is the process of arranging your affairs to minimize the risk of your wealth being seized, whether by prospective litigants, future creditors, or some taxing authority.

• Use multiple safeguards, since no perfect structure exists that will protect all assets all the time. You can employ a variety of tactics to protect all of your assets in all contingencies, such as maximizing your contributions to 401(k) plans, pensions, or IRAs, and finding low-cost umbrella insurance.

• Title things appropriately. If you own your own office building and it is in your name, for instance, a victorious plaintiff can claim it. To forestall such a maneuver, create an entity such as a limited liability company to hold the title.

• Make your home unattractive to creditors by mortgaging it to the hilt, or creating a qualified personal residence trust (QPRT).

• Do not trust a spouse defense to save your assets.  Married business owners occasionally put their possessions in their spouses' names for safekeeping.  Usually, signing property over to a spouse is better than owning it together, because a creditor can force a couple to liquidate jointly held assets to collect the debtor's share.  But, letting a spouse own rights to your property may make for a risky situation in the case of divorce.  A creditor may also have access to the business and property if your spouse is merely holding the assets rather than fully owning them.

• Educate yourself so that you can understand which asset protection strategies work and which ones do not. Suppose your goals are to make your assets creditor- and judgment-proof, and you do not want to invite future problems. As a general rule, stay away from traditional offshore protection trusts.  If you establish a trust, you are required to notify the IRS, and just by doing that, you may become a target for examination by the IRS. The IRS takes the position that an offshore asset-protection trust means you are trying to hide something.

• Consider a private insurance portfolio (PIP). Life insurance is one of the very few forms of investment that is often inherently protected from creditor claims, and there may be other ways to privatize your holdings.

For more information about these asset protection tactics, contact the Tampa asset protection lawyer at Joe Gonzalez, PA.

It is in your best interests to protect your assets with estate planning in mind. Experts say this strategy has a better chance of holding up in court because your actions will not appear as initiatives to avoid creditors or judgments. The best defense is to use a variety of estate planning tactics and keep your assets out of reach of judgments before the need arises.

Guard your assets.  Save money.  Call the firm.

Tampa law firm Joe Gonzalez, PA helps individuals and businesses protect their assets.  Serving the state of Florida, Mr. Gonzalez is one of the few lawyers experienced in litigating before tax courts, and he is one of the only attorneys of his kind who can help clients in English and Spanish.  For more information on how Joe Gonzalez, PA can protect your assets, call the firm at 813-418-7382 or contact the office online to schedule a free initial consultation.