Dallas Asset Protection Attorney

Depending on your situation, we can guide you through the process of protecting your business and personal assets from claims of creditors. For example:

 

• You might be able to add a liability rider to your homeowner’s insurance, called an “umbrella” liability policy. This coverage can pay claims up to policy limits, which are often $1,000,000 or more. These policies typically do not cover intentional or criminal acts.

 

• A general business liability policy can provide coverage for claims against your company. Let’s say that you own a restaurant. Someone claims that they got food poisoning and files a lawsuit, demanding an outrageous amount of money for his damages. If you do not have liability insurance for this type of claim, your company’s assets could get wiped out to pay the money the court awards.

 

• The structure of your business can offer protection for your assets. You might be a one-person operation, but you do not have to risk all of your personal assets as a sole proprietor. By incorporating or becoming another form of business entity, like a limited liability company, you could safeguard personal assets. If you have a partnership, you could convert the business to a limited partnership or a corporation to protect assets.

 

• Sometimes it makes sense to combine multiple legal vehicles like grantor trusts and a change of the business structure.

 

• Transferring unprotected assets to a family limited partnership can keep them out of the reach of creditors.

 

• You can safeguard assets like a windfall or an inheritance by putting the items in trust for the child or spouse's benefit. We have several techniques for protecting assets from potential spousal claims. We can explain to you the potential pitfalls of marital claims, so that you do not mistakenly put your separate assets into a joint account, for example.

 

By implementing an integrated plan of asset protection, we can remove your assets from the grasp of people who might try to take your wealth from you. Think of the integrated protection techniques as a fortress around you and your wealth.

 

Taking these steps to safeguard your assets sometimes even saves you from getting sued by creditors in the first place. A creditor is less likely to sue someone if the person’s assets are unreachable. It is usually not worth the expense and trouble of suing a person if the creditor will not get any money for his efforts.

 

If a  creditor determines your assets are out of their reach and sees that your bank and investment accounts are titled in the name of a family limited partnership, for example, and your business is a corporation or limited liability company, the creditor might not file the lawsuit.