3 Big Estate Protection Mistakes To Avoid

Estate planning helps ensure your loved ones will be protected in an uncertain future – and estate protection is an important part of it that’s all too frequently overlooked.

Estate protection, also known as asset protection planning, is the process of defending your estate’s assets from the unforeseen through financial and legal means. Often, this means a trade-off: Assets become inaccessible for now so they can be secure until they are needed.

Who needs estate protection? Everyone can benefit, although there are some professionals who traditionally practice it more aggressively.

Physicians, real estate investors, and others navigating a litigious professional world have traditionally been enthusiastic about estate protection planning. However, any high-net worth individual should think seriously about it.

In effect, asset protection guards your assets from creditors, taxes, legal fees, and other entanglements that may be avoidable through the right mechanisms.

Let’s look at three major estate planning mistakes that can undermine your efforts:

1. Starting Too Late
For estate protection to offer its full benefits, it’s vital to start as soon as possible. This isn’t only for your heirs: It also helps you ensure your assets will remain robust throughout your life. Even if you are in prime health and still have significant income or active investments, laying the foundation today will make it easier to navigate any complexities the future might bring.

2. Overlooking Trusts
When it comes to growing and shielding personal assets, trusts are among the most powerful mechanisms provided by law. Everyone with significant assets should closely examine the value of trusts. Executives, entrepreneurs, and others with complex business dealings should ensure their personal assets are completely separate and insulated from their business entities.

3. “Planning Blind”
When worst-case scenarios happen, estate protection is there to safeguard your interests – but it has to be done well and proactively with the help of trusted experts. The process entails a careful balance that sacrifices current control for future certainty, so your approach must be personalized to your needs with the help of a team deeply informed about you.

Many people think asset protection is even more complicated than health insurance.

They wonder how to get started – and how to be sure they’re making the right moves.

At Flagler Financial, we’ve helped clients in all situations architect an estate protection and estate planning strategy that makes sense for them. Our financial expertise is second to none here in the Palm Coast area and throughout the state of Florida. Plus, we make the process easy. To learn more, contact us today.