Asset Protection 101

Little Timmy trespasses on your property and hurts himself, or you accidentally rear-end someone in traffic. You get sued. What happens to your property? If you lose the lawsuit, can your property be sold to satisfy the judgment? The answer might surprise you—yes, your (non-homestead) property can be sold to satisfy a judgment. For many property owners and investors, this is a terrifying thought. Fortunately, there are ways to protect your property.

If you have investment property, inherited property, or own land outside of your homestead property, transferring the property to an LLC may protect that property from a judgment. To do this, you create an LLC and transfer that property into your LLC. For ideal protection, you make a spouse, child, or friend you trust a managing member (or joint owner) of the LLC. Florida provides great protections for LLCs, and this makes it much more difficult for an attorney to “pierce the corporate veil” (or access those properties in the LLC). But what about placing it in a Trust? You can do that too. LLC interests can be assigned to your Trust. By transferring your properties to an LLC and then your LLC to your Trust, you both protect your assets and ensure they are transferred to your family outside of probate. If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help protect what you’ve worked so hard to build while ensuring your assets are transferred safely to your family, please contact me at (813) 244-7758 or RossSpanoLaw.com.

Cheers! Ross Spano