Contryman's Service Profile

ASSET PROTECTION
Provided by Contryman Associates, P.C., and Contryman Wealth Advisors

Description:
Advice and services to help you protect your assets against malpractice, negligence, liability and other litigation, property damage, and liability on loan guarantees.

Benefits:
Contryman asset protection services help protect business owners and others in cases of divorce, in lawsuits by employees and others, in malpractice lawsuits, and in government civil actions. We encourage business clients not to co-sign notes for the corporation, to keep personal and corporate assets separate, to observe corporate formalities, and to avoid “piercing the corporate veil”, all to limit the personal liability of corporate officers.

Additionally, there are a variety of trust instruments that we, along with legal counsel, can help you develop to provide asset protection for individuals and business owners. We can explain how these trusts and other processes can help protect your assets.

Process:

Meet with a Contryman professional to ascertain whether you have adequate malpractice, property, casualty, and personal umbrella insurance coverage

We will make suggestions for appropriate amounts

We can discuss your current practices and provide various strategies that you may employ to limit your personal liability

We can determine if a trust would help protect your assets

If a trust is appropriate, we can describe how the instrument works, help you determine how best to structure it and work with legal counsel to develop the required legal documents

Case Example:
A person with approximately $300,000 in assets (a home, investments, a building lot in another state, and miscellaneous personal property) died several years ago without a will or trust. Two adult children did not understand the legal procedures required when their mother also died without a will.

As a result, the children did not get to use the assets during their lifetimes for much needed health, maintenance, and support. Upon the children’s deaths, there was a very lengthy (more than three years) estate settlement through the state court system. The courts determined beneficiaries and how the assets would be distributed. Court costs, legal fees, complicated tax issues, and other expenses, cost the heirs more than $65,000 of the assets from the estate and forced the family to abandon the building property in another state because it would have been more costly to determine title issues than to give up the property.

A will, possibly a trust, and simple estate planning, along with asset protection strategies would have helped this family retain more of their assets and made them available when they were needed most. We encourage you to be sure that loved ones, children, grandchildren, parents, etc., know who your adviser is and that they should consult that person in case of financial uncertainties or upon your death or incapacity.

This case study may not be representative of the experience of, or the results realized, by other clients. There is no guarantee of future performance or success.

Disclosure Statement

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