When you decide to open an offshore trust, there are a few simple considerations that will help you steer clear of problems later down the road.

Choosing a trustee: When you are considering who should be the trustee of your offshore trust, there are a few options.

1. You can choose a friend or family member: If the person you choose is a friend or family, the reasons may be because the individual you entrust has a vested interest in the assets held within the trust. This can be a safer way to go because they want to ensure the safety of the assets due to business dealings or because they want to protect you. In either case, have your California offshore trust attorney help you decide — appearance can be deceiving, and while you trust this person now, money can change relationships.

2. You can choose an offshore bank as your trustee: This is often a good way to go depending on the trust, especially in Cook Islands Trust where banks are extreme defensive players when it comes to the rights of the grantor of the trust.

3. You can choose a professional trustee who lives where the trust is held: This person will charge you a fee, but the beauty here is that they are an objective party who has no interest in what family members, a divorcing spouse, or a U.S. attorney may want to do with or to your trust.

To help you decide which type of trustee is best for you, get in touch with Orange County asset protection attorney Jeffrey Matsen today by visiting our Contact page.

Creating an offshore trust make some major changes in how the assets therein are protected and managed.

• The Assets you place in an offshore trust will not be in your name anymore — they will be in the name of the trust and controlled and managed not by the grantor (you) but by the trustee. The trustee can be an individual or a banking institution based upon your personal needs.
• In most cases, the trustee will not have the power to make decisions about the assets held within the trust without your go ahead, but you should always advise your California asset protection lawyer of any changes you wish to make before moving forward — it could be that he counsels you not to make the move.
• An offshore trust will take the assets from being communal property between you and your spouse since the trust in which they are held will be the entity named as the owner of the assets. This means that as the grantor of the trust, the assets (while not technically in your name) are no longer accessible to the spouse you are divorcing.
• BEWARE that you can’t decide after divorce has been decided upon to stash a what you feel is rightfully yours in an offshore trust. You must have created the trust while the marriage is still legally binding and before anyone is served with divorce papers.

If you have an interest in an offshore trust you will want to discuss it with a California offshore trust attorney who can advise you as to which kind of trust suits your needs best. Always consider the needs of your loved ones and yourself when you decide on a trust; it can be a phenomenal way to protect what is rightfully yours in the event of malpractice, predatory creditors, and much more.

While there are many options in trusts that will help to protect your money, your money may already have a good degree of protection, depending on where it is and the manner in which it is kept. Before making any decisions about where you want your liquid assets to go, discuss your options with your Orange County asset protection lawyers.

In many cases, a great percentage of a person’s liquid assets may be held in a 401(k), Roth IRA, IRA, or other type of deferred compensation or retirement plan. Many of these plans will keep your assets safe in the event of a lawsuit, but again, the only way to be 100 percent sure of this is to discuss the parameters of the plan with your Orange County asset protection attorney.

While deferred compensation and retirement plans may keep your money safe in certain situations, laws change, and you must have a firewall to protect what is rightfully yours. That’s why you must have proper liability and/or malpractice insurance, depending on your profession. Protecting your liquid and hard assets with liability insurance is a way to create some peace of mind. Keeping your money in retirement funds will create more peace of mind. But if you’re the kind of person who wants to make sure that all your bases are covered, talk to your Orange County estate planning lawyer about the options you have for creating trusts for your retirement plan(s), your home, and the various soft and hard assets you use to run your business. Separating assets by way of trusts or by including them in different LLCs, you can avoid a lawsuit against your whole estate or whole worth.

Discuss the options you have for protecting your money: Whether it’s retirement plans or liability insurance, trusts, or a combination of all three, you can rest easy knowing that a highly experienced lawyer has reviewed your assets and can tailor a plan to meet your specific estate planning needs.

To be sure, planning an estate — regardless of the size of your estate — should be handled by a professional California estate planning and asset protection attorney.

Many people erroneously think that they have a simple estate, or one in which there won’t be arguments over. These people therefore choose not to obtain the help and guidance of California asset protection lawyer who can handle every aspect of estate planning procedures to the letter of the current laws and in a manner that does not leave anything open for interpretation. What can ensue is an attack on your estate.

Your estate – and the assets listed therein – are subject to unnecessary probate or could take a hit for several reasons. The first and most easily avoidable is how formally and technically the trust, will and estate plan were put together. In other words, if the documents were not written, filed, and handled in the proper legal manner, there are more likely to be errors that can make your assets vulnerable. This is why the help of an experienced California estate planning lawyer is so crucial.

Be careful who you trust and know that who you bring to the table with your attorney will have influence on your decisions and how things proceed. The person(s) you choose to be with you when making decisions or those who are witnesses to the execution of your will must absolutely have your best interest at heart. Never bring someone who overpowers you or tries to take the floor. If it’s best for you to meet with your attorney alone during the planning process, do that – it will keep you from being unnecessarily influenced by parties that may not have a stake in the trust.

Last, make sure you’re not pulling the wool over your own eyes – if you’ve been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, or another progressive mental illness, finding this out after your death could nullify your will if it is found to have been signed after a diagnosis. The best thing you can do is tell your Southern California estate planning lawyer and let them help you take the proper steps to safeguard your assets and your loved ones.

Even if you have the best Newport Beach estate planning attorney, there are some things you should know as someone planning an estate. Perhaps the most important thing to know about are the specific documents that apply when planning any estate. Whether your main focus is protecting your assets in California or you simply want to ensure that you are cared for in the event of incapacitation, or your priority is to secure your estate for the loved ones you leave behind, each of these documents is a cornerstone of your estate.

A California last will and testament is where you begin. If you have previously drafted a will that is no longer current, it is imperative that your first priority be to update this will. A will is where you decide who will be the guardian of your child(ren) and where you will name the beneficiaries of your estate. If you do not have an up-to-date will, any trust you have created with the help of your Newport Beach asset protection lawyer may not be executable — certainly not without probate.

A California durable power of attorney is another crucial document. This document will name the person who may act on your behalf in a number of situations; if you become mentally incompetent or otherwise incapacitated, this person will handle all manner of financial transactions, including paying bills, handling bank accounts and insurance matters. This person may also have access to your estate and have the responsibility to decide who gets what in the event of your death. This is a unique document for everyone and how it is written will determine how much responsibility the power of attorney has.

A California healthcare directive will name your medical power of attorney. This person is entrusted with matters of your health when you are unable to make decisions yourself. Your medical power of attorney will be charged with carrying out the wishes you delineate in your healthcare directive. This can mean making decisions about organ donation, burial, and so on. Just because you know who this person is in your own mind does not mean they will be allowed to make these decisions — hence the importance of including their name and all of your wishes in writing in your healthcare directive.

A California living trust will name and hold any real property you own. While a living trust has other benefits that we have previously discussed on this blog, as a cornerstone of Newport Beach estate planning, the living trust allows you to name beneficiaries, keep real estate from undue taxation, and above all, help your loved ones avoid time consuming probate.

If you have questions about what documents you may need in addition to these, contact your Newport Beach asset protection lawyer today for more details.