According to a recent article from SmartMoney.com, “One straightforward estate-planning tool is a simple gift, taking advantage of the annual $13,000 per person (or $26,000 per couple) gift exclusion. Some parents opt to give that gift in stock rather than cash, which lets the recipient enjoy the profit if stock prices rise. But after the 2009 surge in the market, other people may prefer to wait until death to pass along stocks that have risen sharply; with that arrangement, the recipient may be able to avoid paying taxes.”

California estate planning lawyers can help you understand and plan your gifting to avoid taxation on stocks or cash gifts. Gifting stocks may not be a bad idea in this market — while the value of stocks dropped to staggering lows across many corporations traded on the NYSE, many are on the rise in the first quarter of 2010. Given the pendulum-like nature of stocks, someone gifted stocks after your death may be able to cash them out and enjoy the liquid assets after you pass away. In the meantime, however, that is to say, before you die, gifting the stocks will allow them to continue to increase in value. This means more value for the recipient of the gift — and if you gift to a minor child, you may be able to take advantage of that increase — tax free — before your final will and testament is being read.

Newport Beach asset protection attorneys can tell you more about how gifting can work in your favor as well as that of your loved ones. If you have an interest in working gifting into your estate plan, contact your California asset management lawyer today.

Have you spoken to your Orange County estate planning attorney recently? Have you ever taken the time to discuss with a wealth strategist what your estate may be worth to you and your loved ones?

Now is the time more than ever.

With estate tax laws changing in the not to distant future, now is the time to discuss the nuts and bolts of estate planning. If you have yet to do this, you won’t want to wait any longer. If you have already done this and think that you’re somehow safeguarded, you’ll want to put a call in to your California asset protection attorney to make sure this is the case.

The fact is, the laws regarding estate taxes and asset taxes are changing. Because of these changes, your estate and assets may be at risk.

You need to know sooner rather than later whether or not the changes in these tax laws will have any affect on your estate or how your assets will be taxed.

If you have not yet created a trust, discuss how this might help certain assets within your estate if some of the new estate taxes will apply to you and your estate.

If you’re like most people, chances are you’ve been putting this discussion off. Now is the time to press pause and contact your Southern California estate planning attorney. If you wait any longer you could be putting yourself at unnecessary risk. Know your rights and let your attorney help you decide what is best for your estate and assets!

If you live in California and have been a resident for more than a year, you may want to consider taking advantage of a private retirement plan. A private retirement plan is not like a 401(k) or a Roth IRA. It offers benefits that its counterparts cannot, and it’s worth discussing with your estate planning lawyer in California.

Choosing a retirement savings fund can be a tough choice, but in tough economic times and many unsavory characters in the lending business as well as predatory lenders laying in wait for people to slip up, protecting your retirement earnings has never been more important.

A private retirement plan has much better protection when creditors come knocking. Because what it held by a private retirement fund is considered “essential to your retirement,” the protection it offers is a definite upgrade from an IRA, which will only protect your assets to a certain degree and in specific circumstances.

But there’s news about private retirement funds that make them even sweeter: if you don’t have one set up yet, you may do so… and you can transfer monies and other assets from your IRA into your new private retirement plan and the assets will be protected after the transfer is complete.

Conversely, if you have an existing private retirement plan and you’d like to marry it into your IRA, you may do so, and the assets from the private retirement plan will still have the same protection it did before, so long as there is a paper trail that proves the assets were initially within the private retirement plan. You can work with your asset protection lawyer in Orange County to ensure you have all the proper documentation on file.

It’s food for thought and can offer a great deal of protection and can also avoid “fraudulent transfers” during tough times. It’s worth your time to discuss it with an experienced California business transactions attorney.

Recent statistics indicate that Californians, and indeed Americans in general are not planning their estates. Of course, we have to consider the mass layoffs, the Wall Street scandal that has cost Americans billions, and the slowing of consumer activity.

While these are certainly understandable reasons why estate planning may not seem important, it actually makes it more important than ever.

Protect your assets: even if you have a fraction of what you had five years ago, you need to discuss with a California estate planning lawyer what you can do to protect what you still have.

Save yourself from creditor harassment: if you have assets in a trust or other sheltering vehicle, you can foreclose on a home and not worry about losing what is protected within your estate in offshore and most domestic trusts—but you won’t know if you qualify for this if you don’t discuss it with your Newport Beach asset protection attorney.

According to the most recent statistics concerning wealth management and estate planning, including power of attorney, trusts, and will preparation, 13 percent less Americans are estate planning in 2010 than were in 2007. According to the poll which was conducted by Lawyers.com, just over 70 percent of those asked noted that saving money was more important than estate planning. So where’s the problem? If you’re not protecting what you are earning you it is vulnerable and can easily become the prey of predatory lenders and creditors!

Protect what is yours and discuss the best ways to do it for your unique financial situation. Contact a California estate planning lawyer today—have your questions answered and stop putting off the planning of your estate!

Many people think that when they create a new business venture as an LLC that the assets held therein are completely bulletproof. While it is true that LLCs offer phenomenal protection while also offering great tax benefits to small and medium-sized business owners, the truth of the matter is that when creditors want what they feel they’re owed, they will exercise their rights to the fullest extent of the law. The importance of California business transaction lawyers starts to come into play on what could turn into a battlefield; you need an experienced tactician on your side.

When you create your new LLC, do it with the counsel of a California business transactions attorney to make sure you know exactly what is protected and how. You need to be aware of your creditors and the moves the can pull to get what they want. There are options to make things more difficult to access, but you should NEVER try to understand and implement these on your own – you’re not a legal professional, and you want your company and what it owns safe… and legal.

A creditor can obtain a judgment or foreclose on property if you owe them money. Talk to your California asset management attorney about how this can be avoided and/or ways to establish asset protection for your LLC in California that will better protect what your business entity owns.