DuPage County Asset Protection Attorney

Estate Planning Lawyers for Trusts and Tax Planning in the Chicago Area

As you make plans for your family’s future, you will need to make a variety of decisions about what you would like to happen after you die, and you should also consider how your finances and assets should be handled throughout the rest of your lifetime. For many families, the estate planning process includes taking steps to manage and protect their assets, which will ensure that family members will have the financial resources they need, no matter what happens.

The attorneys at the Gierach Law Firm have more than 30 years of experience, and we work with families in a wide variety of financial situations to create comprehensive estate plans that address their needs. We will help you determine the best asset protection strategies that will ensure that you and your loved ones can continue to reap the benefits of the hard work you have put in to acquire these assets throughout your lifetime.

Asset Protection Strategies

Ensuring that you and your family will be able to make use of the assets you have acquired is one of the key aspects of a comprehensive estate plan. By protecting these assets from creditors, taxes, or other issues that could result in financial losses, you can make sure you and your loved ones will have the financial resources to address your ongoing needs, and you can take steps to distribute your assets to your loved ones both during your lifetime and after you have passed on.

Trusts are one of the most useful tools for asset protection. These financial instruments allow you to place assets under the control of a trustee, who will manage the assets and distribute them to your beneficiaries. Irrevocable trusts often provide the most protection from creditors, since they will completely remove assets from your control, ensuring that they cannot be lost to creditors while also helping minimize potential estate taxes. These trusts can be used in conjunction with revocable trusts to provide robust management of your assets and meet your family’s needs.

Multiple different types of trusts can be used for other asset protection purposes. Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs) may be used to manage life insurance policies and distribute payouts to beneficiaries after a person’s death. Charitable lead trusts or charitable remainder trusts may be used to manage charitable giving while providing tax planning advantages. Qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trusts can be used to provide for the needs of a person’s surviving spouse while protecting assets and distributing them to other beneficiaries. Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs) can help minimize taxes when transferring real estate property to beneficiaries. Medicaid trusts can ensure that assets will not be depleted to pay for a nursing home or other forms of long term care.

Business owners will also need to consider asset protection strategies when creating a business succession plan. By determining the best ways to transfer business interests to family members or partners upon their retirement or death, a person can make sure the business will be able to continue operating and generating income. Family limited partnerships or limited liability companies with a proper operating agreement can be a good solution for minimizing taxes and transferring business assets to family members over time, allowing them to gradually assume control over a business while ensuring that assets are protected from creditors.

Contact Our Naperville Asset Protection Lawyers

By taking the right steps to protect the assets you own, you can plan for how they will be used during your life while also ensuring that they will be distributed to your beneficiaries according to your wishes. the Gierach Law Firm, LLC will make sure you understand the best asset protection strategies for your family, and we will work with you to create an estate plan that will offer the peace of mind you need. To arrange a consultation, contact us at our Naperville office by calling 630-228-9413 or call our Hoffman Estates office at 847-443-3684.