You have worked hard to accumulate wealth, it’s probably time you take a good look at how you are protected from others who may want what you have. Protection of your assets should be an important thing but many people are so busy earning income that they do not take time to consider how to protect that income from others including the government (legally of course).

With all of the recent turmoil about taking from the rich and giving to the poor (redistribution of wealth), you should prioritize organizing your financeslife and protecting your assets. There is a general trend in our culture now to believe that there is free money growing on trees. Most of us have received “free” money from the government during the COVID period. What happens later when they want it back? What happens when a relative claim your estate?

If you are a real estate investor and own rental properties,, for example, you should consider putting each property into its own LLC. This will protect you if someone slips, falls,, and sues you. The law makes it difficult for someone to take more than what is included in the LLC. By locking up each property in its own LLC, you isolate other assets including your own home.

After you have created the LLC’s it’s time to create a living trust or another type of trust that best suits your needs. You and your spouse are the executors of the living trust with all those you wish to receive the benefits of the trust listed. After the trust is completed, transfer the deed to your home or homes into the trust through the use of quitclaim deeds. Now the trust will own your properties.

Next assign your checking, savings, brokerage,, and other financial accounts to the trust. Basically at this point, the trust owns your liquid assets. You still can spend and complete financial transactions.

Should you have a business, you may want to transfer the ownership of the business to the trust. If it’s a corporation, assign your shares to the trust. If it’s a professional business or partnership, amend the agreements to include the trust as owner of your interest.

At this point, change the LLC agreements to indicate that 100% of the ownership is owned by the trust. Now virtually everything you own is locked up in a trust. If something happens to you, the trust will survive and own your interest.

You should create a last will and testament. This can be done at the same time you are creating the trust.

See an attorney that specializes in wills and estates to accomplish all of the above. There are tax advantages to this strategy that your CPA will explain. Work with your CPA on how these changes affect your income tax obligations. It’s fine to avoid paying taxes you have been smart enough to avoid. One of the major benefits of a trust is that should something happen to you or your spouse, your interest in properties and business will not have to be probated. No courts or expenses. The businesses continue to function and usual.

Internet firms provide living trust and will templates which perhaps may work for you. I recommend even if you download these documents and complete them, run them by an attorney for comments. Most attorneys use a template for each of these types of documents filling in the blanks as they go. The difference between the attorneys template and the one on the internet is that the attorney can provide guidance on how to correctly complete the documents.

Wills and trusts are not typically filed with government agencies such as county courts or recorders. When the attorney completes the documents, they will retain copies. This is important in the event there is an issue down the road with someone making unauthorized changes. Your attorney has an original copy to compare the changed copy to.

As you acquire more properties or material wealth, you can continue to add new LLC’s to your trust or sell properties and remove them from the trust. Creating a trust and will does not mean that you put it on the shelf and forget about it. Things change over the years and it’s a good thing to review the documents periodically.

Caution: No legal advice has been given here, only items that you may want to consider then review with a license attorney or CPA.