Cheshire Asset Protection Lawyer

Cheshire Asset Protection Attorney

Cheshire is an affluent suburban community in the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region of New Haven County, and many people in the area own substantial assets that they would like to protect from probate. A Cheshire asset protection lawyer is an invaluable asset for protecting the contents of your estate from tax penalties, creditors, and other losses during the estate administration process.

Helping Cheshire, CT, Clients With Asset Protection in Estate Planning

The team at Burns Thomas, LLC has years of experience with all aspects of estate planning, and many of our clients are acutely concerned with asset protection. When a person dies and their estate enters probate, the state’s intestate succession laws dictate how the contents of their estate are distributed. First, any outstanding debts must be paid to creditors, and it’s possible for an estate to face taxation and various other losses during probate.

Asset protection focuses on preserving as much of an estate as possible for the estate’s beneficiaries. Only about 32% of Americans have estate plans as of 2024, a 6% decline from the previous year. Of the surveyed respondents without estate plans, 40% stated that they did not because they believed they didn’t own enough assets to justify creating one. The reality is that asset protection can potentially benefit any estate of any size, but especially larger ones.

Your Cheshire asset protection lawyer at Burns Thomas, LLC can carefully review your assets and determine the most viable strategies available to you. It’s possible to configure your estate plan to limit tax liabilities, shield your assets from creditors, and streamline estate administration after your death. It’s also possible to prevent your family from facing a long and difficult probate process.

Understanding Asset Protection for Your Estate

When a person dies without an estate plan, their estate is subject to probate. During probate, the state’s intestate succession laws dictate how the contents of the estate are distributed. This is a strict and impartial process, and the probate court will settle outstanding debts before distributing the remainder of the estate to the decedent’s beneficiaries.

Your Cheshire asset protection lawyer can help you explore legally enforceable strategies for minimizing the exposure of the contents of your estate to creditors. For example, a trust is a powerful tool for helping your beneficiaries avoid creditors, tax penalties, expensive probate, and other losses during estate administration.

A trust can be configured as “revocable,” meaning it can be modified in the future, or it can be created as an “irrevocable” trust, meaning nothing can be changed once it is finalized. An irrevocable trust provides greater asset protection than a revocable trust, as it completely removes the creator’s ownership of the trust’s contents and assigns a trustee. This trustee is then responsible for distributing the trust’s contents to the creator’s beneficiaries.

It is also possible to configure joint ownership of certain assets to prevent them from being subject to probate and creditors. For example, if you arrange joint ownership of an asset between you and your spouse, the asset becomes their sole property after your death. It’s also possible to create family limited partnerships or limited liability companies that are especially advantageous for business assets.

Ultimately, asset protection is a crucial concern for anyone when creating a functional and legally enforceable estate plan. You may have more options than you realize, and creating the optimal asset protection strategy will require the help of a skilled Cheshire asset protection lawyer. If you’re ready to hire an asset protection lawyer to help with your estate plan, reach out to Burns Thomas, LLC as soon as possible to learn how we can assist you in Cheshire.

Whether the best option for you is a comprehensive will, the establishment of trusts or other estate planning solutions, we will find a solution that fits your needs.

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Ultimately, asset protection is complex, but taking time to hire an asset protection lawyer who can configure your estate will be well worth it. Regardless of the size of your estate, working with a Cheshire asset protection lawyer can provide peace of mind and various tangible benefits for your family. Contact Burns Thomas, LLC today to schedule a consultation with our team and learn more about the asset protection strategies we can implement for your estate plan.