California Trusts that Protect Assets From Creditors & Provide Financial Privacy
Skilled, Confidential Help for Trusts that Protect Assets from Creditors
San Diego Law Firm can help you as a business owner or professional to protect your assets from potential lawsuit creditors. Our lawyers create special trusts that limit what claimants can obtain and, where desired, keep financial and asset ownership information private. From our San Diego, California law offices, we create asset protection trusts throughout California, including Riverside, Imperial, Los Angeles, and all southern California.
Family Limited Partnership Trust
The most popular asset-protection trust is the family limited partnership trust; our knowledgeable lawyers can prepare this for you. It typically has a general partner (the business owner or professional, who controls the partnership trust and its activities) and limited partners (other family members). Income-producing assets are transferred into the trust. Creditors of the partnership can only reach the percentage share owned by the general partner. The rest of the assets cannot be reached. This arrangement also reduces estate taxes.
Limited Liability Company Owned by Trusts
A limited liability company (LLC) protects business owners as well as their family members from personal liability for debts or claims against the business. Although owners can be sued individually for their personal misconduct, an owner's creditor cannot reach the assets of the LLC. The creditor must obtain a "charging order" against the individual owner's interest in the LLC, and the charging order can only be collected on by a foreclosure proceeding. If the owners of the limited liability company are two or more trusts, foreclosure becomes extremely difficult and the court may not permit it. The business owner, and sometimes family members or business partners, are the owners and beneficiaries of the trusts. The trusts also provide a layer of privacy: persons considering suing a business owner cannot see who owns assets held in an LLC owned by one or more trusts. San Diego Law Firm's skilled, knowledgeable attorneys can prepare all of the documents needed for this financial protection.
The trusts can allow the business owner's spouse to continue managing the family assets after the owner's death, and can name guardians and successor trustees to look after the children if both parents should die. These trusts also avoid probate and minimize estate taxes.
Other Asset Protection Strategies
Insurance policies, homestead exemptions, and other types of trusts (such as educational trusts for children) can also protect assets from creditors. This is a complicated area of law and each situation must be considered on its own merits. If you would like San Diego Law Firm to evaluate your particular situation, please call us for an appointment. Although our offices are based in California, we handle cases in other states in association with other skilled attorneys, as provided by law.
How to Contact San Diego Law Firm
We handle matters throughout California, and new clients are always welcome. For more information or to make an appointment, please contact us either by:
Telephone: (619) 794-0243
E-mail: contactus@SanDiegoLawFirm.com
We can be reached by telephone Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You may also use the
form below to contact us. This form is answered Monday through Friday during
the work day. Please remember that for us to become your attorneys, we must first have a written attorney-client agreement signed by both of us, so please do not email any confidential information at this point. After we have reached an agreement with you, we can then exchange information freely. We look forward to helping you.