Asset Protection

July 2, 2011

Securing Your Assets and Health

According to the United States Census Bureau, the state of Florida has the highest Population Change and Net Migration of any other state, from the years 1975-2000. As is common knowledge, the baby-boomer generation is growing into retirement age, which increases the likelihood of periods of disability. There are two main options you should consider for who will manage your assets and health care decisions during a period of disability: 1) Set up a Revocable Living Trust; and/or 2) Designate a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care.

Setting up a Florida Revocable Living Trust and a Florida Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care usually provides a person with the comfort in knowing that their health and assets will be managed for their own benefit. Using both types of documents in tandem ensures that your assets and health should not be managed to benefit the private/secret desires of another person.

If you are a baby-boomer who is not quite at the age of retirement and who may look into moving into a warmer climate such as Florida, There are options you may want to discuss with a Jacksonville Estate Planning Lawyer now, so that you can further secure your dreams of moving down south.

June 28, 2011

What to do with your Internet passwords when you die?

by David M. Goldman

Coming of age in this digital world has its luxuries, but those luxuries come with their own set of complexities. Face Book enables you to connect with friends; blogging sites (such as this one) allow you to express your ideas to the world; and paying your bill over the Internet is convenient and environmentally friendly. What do all these different types of luxuries have in common? You must remember your password in order to access the information on them. These websites can add up quickly, and so too can the passwords that access them. Then throw in all the passwords you have for work in addition to all the passwords for your personal life, and these can be hard to remember when you are firing on all cylinders.

Digital Asset Protection.

Now, throw in an accident where you either pass away or are mentally incapable and there is a vast amount of information that you or your estate needs to access. If you have a Digital Asset Protection Trust , you will likely be taken care of. By having a Digital Asset Protection Trust , you decide who gets your online account information and what they can do with that information. To give you peace of mind, your Digital Asset Protection Trust attorney has attorney-client privilege with you, ensuring that the people who have access to your information, should a tragedy occur, will only know of those online accounts which you personally have laid out. It is never too early to begin preparing yourself in case a tragedy occurs.

June 3, 2011

Florida Asset Protection:New LLC Law becomes effective

by David M. Goldman

On May 31, 2011, Governor Rick Scott approved House Bill 253. The Bill was crafted in response to the Florida Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. FTC last year. It clarifies that a charging order is the sole remedy available to a creditor who holds a judgment against a member of a multiple member LLC. However, single member LLC’s remain vulnerable to creditors forcing a debtor to surrender all right, title and interest in his LLC to satisfy an outstanding debt.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect your Florida assets, contact a Jacksonville Asset Protection Lawyer to talk about your circumstances and the different options available in Florida.

June 2, 2011

Creating a Florida Dynasty Trust

by David M. Goldman

Florida Dynasty Trusts are generally used to keep assets within your family members or descendants. The person who creates this type of trust usually has significant assets which are far in excess of $1,000,000 which they want to protect from the misuse or dissipation of family members. A Florida Dynasty Trust can also protect the assets within the trust from the reach of future creditors of your born and unborn family members.

Florida is a great state in which to create a Dynasty Trust. This type of trust is regulated by state law, so where a person decides to create the trust will govern which state’s law will regulate the trust. Florida’s state law allows for a person to create a Trust for the benefit of another (usually children or grandchildren) plus 360 years after that benefited person has died. This is a longer than many states that have a limit of 21 years after the death of the beneficiary who was alive at the time the trust was created.

There are many options that need to be considered when creating a Florida Dynasty Trust such as who the trust’s assets (income and/or principal) should vest in and which state law the trust should be interpreted under. A Florida Dynasty Trust may be able to protect your assets from creditors even though you live in another state. To contact a Florida Irrevocable Trust Attorney. For more information on Florida Trusts please contact us to discuss your specific goals and circumstances or visit the Florida Estate Planning Lawyer Blog for general information.

June 1, 2011

Recent Changes for Retirement Accounts in Florida

by David M. Goldman

If you have a Retirement Account in the State of Florida, a recently enacted law will provide your heirs stronger asset protection in Florida.

An individual Retirement Account is a form of retirement savings that provides tax benefits to the owner of the account. The account is primarily used as a means of saving for retirement. When the owner of an Individual Retirement Account dies, the account may be transferred to a named beneficiary. When transferred, it is known as an inherited Individual Retirement Account.

Generally, Florida law provides for protection of various assets from creditors, which protection extends to bankruptcy proceedings. Under the old Florida law, a regular Individual Retirement Account was exempt from creditor claims, but an inherited Individual Retirement Account was not.

May 12, 2011

Beneficiaries of Inherited IRAs May Soon Have Asset Protected IRAs

by David M. Goldman

Florida House bill 469, which was recently passed by the house and senate, states that an inherited IRA is asset protected for the Florida domiciled beneficiary. This is a recent change to court decisions which did not protect the beneficiary of an IRA from creditor’s claims. This new law should even apply in Bankruptcy because in Florida the Bankruptcy court uses and analyses state law to determine certain exemptions.

The bill is expected to be signed by Governor Scott soon.

May 4, 2011

Florida Legislature Fixes Charging Order Protection for LLC’s

by David M. Goldman

Florida’s Governor is expected to sign a bill that was passed by the Florida Senate on April 29th, 2011 which will apparently retroactively make a charging order the sole and exclusive remedy by which a judgment creditor of a member or a member’s assignee may satisfy a judgment from a the interest in an LLC and that foreclosure is not an available remedy in a multi member LLC.

Single member LLC do not have asset protection and a creditor of the member can apply top foreclosure on the membership interest of the owner of the LLC when it is shown that distributions will not satisfy the judgment within a reasonable amount of time.

Here is the house bill text on the subject which was passed on May 2nd 2011

February 22, 2011

Estate Tax, Inheritance Tax, What about Both?

by David M. Goldman

According to a Market Watch article by Bill Bischoff, on the Worst Places to Die, New Jersey Tops the list with a combined effective estate and inheritance tax rate of 54.1 %.

Estate tax is bad enough but several states have an inheritance tax. Yes you could actually leave money to a family member and they could be charged a percentage of your assets by the state they live in. Florida residents are not subject to either a state inheritance tax or a state estate tax.

While 16 states have a state estate tax only 6 have inheritance taxes and two states have both (New Jersey and Maryland)

December 7, 2010

Using a Business Entity as the General Partner of a Limited Partnership

by David M. Goldman

One needs to be careful that they do not expose their assets in a Florida Limited Partnership to forced distributions because they choose a general partner that can be take over. In the past and in many other states, it is common to protect the GP from liability by making it a corporation or LLC. The problem with this is that if a creditor is able to take over the entity because of a judgment, then the creditor acting as the General Partner can force distributions that they can then attach by means of a charging order.

You should review your limited partnership agreements with a Florida Asset Protection Lawyer to review your LP structure for potential problems in light of recent Florida cases.

Florida does have a LLLP which can remove the liability of the general partner without the use of a more complicated business structure.

December 7, 2010

Oklahoma Law Lets Executors manage Online Social Media Accounts

by David M. Goldman

A new law in Oklahoma appears to let estate executors have the power to access, administer, or terminate online social media accounts of the deceased. This law is in direct contradiction to the licensing arrangements of most online accounts and it has yet to be seen how and if the law will provide rights to estates.

The law should remind the people as they go about their estate planning that, in addition to their personal and real property, they should make plans for the vast amount of intellectual property they will leave behind.

As digital photo accounts, iTunes accounts, cell phone applications, and email accounts replace their traditional counterparts with many people, it is becoming more important than ever to address these assets in every estate plan.