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.

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.

Protecting your assets is one of the best things you can do to ensure a good future for what you own, especially liquid assets, real property, and intellectual property. You may want to protect your assets for a number of reasons, but probably the top two most common reasons are to protect them from creditors or a spouse in the event of a divorce.

Asset protection in California is a great tool – but it’s a serious tool, and should not be used in a cavalier or careless manner. Those who try to use asset protection after a judgment or divorce papers have already been served are walking a fine line… a line that could be deemed fraud. Once this line has been crossed, the consequences are severe and things will not pan out in your favor.

The proper and responsible thing to do is sit down with a California asset protection attorney BEFORE you experience a life change that could affect your assets. Speak to your attorney about protecting what is rightfully yours before a divorce, before going into a new business , or before entering into any agreement that will mean you owe money to a creditor, including purchasing a new home or car.

So what’s the final word? Use asset protection a) before any major life changes, and b) with the help and guidance of a California asset protection lawyer.

If you have any questions or any uncertainties regarding when you should use asset protection, contact your Newport Beach asset protection lawyer today.

As far as personal asset protection goes, an LLC (Limited Liability Company) is probably your best option. So what makes an LLC so great? You hear all the buzz but no one really talks about why the alternative to incorporating is so fantastic.

An LLC offers the same kind of protection that an S or C-corp does, making it extremely difficult for judgments against your company to affect your personal assets. The mistake that small business owners make when setting up an LLC is doing it themselves or online; you just can’t guarantee how well you will be protected personally if you don’t enlist the help of a California asset protection attorney.

In addition to protecting your personal assets by separating you from your company (which sole proprietorships or partnerships do not do), an LLC offers individual business owners to take advantage of the kind of tax breaks that small businesses have access to as partnerships. For company owners that are looking for ways to protect personal wealth and have some of the tax perks they may have enjoyed before they grew out of partnership status.

As good as an LLC may sound, the common mistake entrepreneurs make is assuming without legal counsel that it’s the best fit for them. The only way to know this for sure is to sit with a California asset protection attorney who understands exactly which business type (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, S-Corp or C-Corp) will give you the best protection and advantages that your company can get the most use out of.

Asset protection is an important part of estate planning as well. If you are a small business owner, you need to consider how an estate planning lawyer in California can keep your assets and estate safe from predatory creditors and those who may file suits against you or your business.

Small business owners are so busy getting their businesses off the ground that they easily overlook ways they could protect themselves and their businesses from falling prey to circumstances that are often unavoidable.

California asset protection can safeguard your personal and business assets – but if you don’t have an asset protection plan in place, creating one after the fact will do you no good.

What to have in place:

First, don’t try this at home. You’ll need to enlist the help of a California asset protection attorney.

Create a COMPLETE list of your business’s assets. This inventory list should include every single item that is owned by your business. If you’re serious about staying protected, you’ll update this list of assets any chance you get. In most instances, a small business owner should do this quarterly – every other quarter at the least.

Hire a California Asset Protection Lawyer who stays on top of changes in federal law. Trying to stay up-to-date with laws that concern asset protection, exemptions, and protective trusts is not something you’ll have time to do if you’re a business owner. Your lawyer should be experienced enough to stay on top of changes in federal law that could affect your assets, both personal and business. He should alert you of changes and let  you know how the game plan will change to keep you protected.

Talk to your Newport Beach Asset Protection Lawyer about protection through insurance. If you run a small to medium-sized enterprise, chances are, there’s a way for creditors or dissatisfied clients to come after your personal and business assets. Damages insurance, property insurance, and personal injury insurance should all be part-and-parcel of your asset protection plan. Bring this up with your attorney and let him know you want it!