You’ve worked hard. You’ve invested wisely. How can you effectively and legally protect your family and business assets from unscrupulous creditors and groundless lawsuits? In Indiana, asset protection begins with consulting a Seymour asset protection lawyer.
If you are sued unexpectedly, your assets will be at risk if your insurance cannot or will not cover the claim. By taking several steps with guidance from a Seymour asset protection attorney, you can protect your assets effectively from baseless lawsuits and dishonest creditors.
Protecting assets in Indiana requires a combination of state-specific exemptions, smart business structuring, and proactive estate planning. For growing families and small businesses, the goal is to create a legal “fortress” that separates personal wealth from professional risks.
How Asset Protection Begins
Asset protection reorganizes your finances to protect assets from collection activities and lawsuits. It changes the ownership of your assets (or the location of your assets) so that judgment holders and creditors cannot access your assets legally.
Several tools either place a legal barrier between you and your assets or transfer your assets into legal structures that limit your liability. After you identify assets that need protection, a Seymour asset protection attorney can explain which tools you need.
How Do Trusts Work?
A trust is a popular legal tool for protecting assets against creditors and lawsuits. Depending on the type of trust, it may also reduce your taxes or allow your beneficiaries to avoid probate after your death.
Different types of trusts accomplish different goals. Asset protection trusts are irrevocable trusts. Assets and properties transferred to an irrevocable trust remain in that trust. Those assets and properties remain yours and under your control, but the trust becomes their legal owner.
Removing your assets from your legal ownership protects those assets from potential liabilities. When you prepare an irrevocable trust with the guidance of a Seymour asset protection lawyer, your lawyer will help you decide which assets and properties should be transferred.
Asset Protection for Families
No single asset protection strategy is right for every family. The first step for most families is purchasing insurance coverage, but your policy may not provide the protection you need when you need it. Here are several asset protection options for growing families:
- In Indiana, married couples can hold real estate as “tenants by the entirety.” This means the property is owned by the marital couple, so the creditor of only one spouse cannot confiscate the family home to satisfy a debt.
- Transferring assets into an irrevocable trust removes them from your legal ownership (although you still have control and use of the assets). Because you no longer own the assets, creditors generally cannot seize them.
- Your homestead exemption protects home equity (up to $22,750 for single owners and $45,500 for married couples) from unsecured creditors in bankruptcy. A $48,000 deduction (or 60% of the assessed value, whichever is less) reduces property taxes.
The $48,000 deduction amount will drop to $40,000 in 2027 and $30,000 in 2028, but the “supplemental” homestead deduction will increase.
Asset Protection for Businesses
The primary asset protection goal for business owners is to prevent business-related debts or lawsuits from “bleeding over” into their personal lives and finances. An asset protection attorney can determine if you need the protection of a limited liability company (LLC), a trust, or both.
Transferring properties and assets to a limited liability company is an effective asset protection strategy for landlords, real estate investors, and business owners in Indiana. Operating as either an LLC or a corporation creates a legal “veil” that separates an owner from the business.
To maintain a corporate veil, you must avoid commingling funds. Using a separate business bank account and signing contracts in the company’s name (“Jane Doe, Manager of XYZ LLC”) is essential.
What Other Tools Protect Business Assets?
For businesses with multiple owners, buy-sell agreements protect the company’s continuity. They prevent a partner’s personal creditor or ex-spouse from seizing a portion of the business.
While legal structures provide a shield, liability insurance provides the “fuel” for your defense if that becomes necessary, paying for legal fees and settlements.
How Do Asset Protection Lawyers Help Families and Businesses?
An asset protection lawyer will help you prepare a buy-sell agreement or establish an irrevocable trust, an LLC, or a corporation. Your asset protection lawyer serves as your strategic partner to ensure your assets are secure and continue to grow. Your lawyer can also help in these ways:
- Choosing the right business structure: Your attorney can help you select the business structure (such as an S-Corp or LLC) that is best for you, based on Indiana’s tax laws and your specific industry risks.
- Avoiding “fraudulent” asset transfers: Asset protection must be established before a claim arises. Your attorney can ensure that moving assets into trusts or LLCs isn’t flagged as fraudulent conveyance.
- Contractual protection: For your business contracts, your attorney can draft “hold harmless” clauses that limit your liability.
- Succession planning: An asset protection attorney can prepare a business succession plan so that, after you pass away, business assets are transferred smoothly to your family through a trust, avoiding the lengthy and costly Indiana probate process.
What More Should You Know About Asset Protection in Indiana?
Effective asset protection moves properties and assets to locations where lawsuits and creditors can’t reach them. It’s the way to ensure that a collection activity or a lawsuit does not wipe you out.
If you own a home or business, have a family, or own any significant assets, promptly speak with an Indiana asset protection attorney about LLCs, trusts, and the other legal tools that can protect what is yours.
We Help You Protect Your Family and Business
At Lorenzo Bevers Braman & Connell, our asset protection team will explain your options for asset protection and prepare the legal documents you need. Lorenzo Bevers Braman & Connell has established a reputation for extraordinary client service and legal excellence.
We provide comprehensive estate planning services. If you have not taken action to protect your family and business assets, call Lorenzo Bevers Braman & Connell now at 812-445-5289 to schedule a consultation with our asset protection professionals.