About Asset Protection With A Focus On Real Estate

Your home is your most important investment. Have you ever heard that? It is true for many people, but not always true for everyone. Regardless of whether it’s your largest investment, your house obviously gives you stability as well as a hedge against inflation. As the economy expands, so will the resale value of your home.

We realize that your home may not be the only real estate you wish to protect. You may have a vacation home and one or more commercial or investment properties. Did you buy a house for your son or daughter to live in during their college years? You naturally want to protect that investment like all any others in your portfolio

Risks associated with real estate holdings include natural disasters, fires, devaluation when a neighborhood goes downhill, squabbles among co-owners if applicable, and mortgage problems triggered by your own financial problems or economic forces beyond your control. At Reed Law, PLC, our asset protection attorneys help clients take necessary precautions to protect the value of their homes and other real estate properties, including timeshares.

Proven Methods For Preserving Real Estate Holdings

When we meet with you to map out your asset protection strategies, we may advise you to shore up your real estate investments by:

• Establishing a limited liability entity that will own some or all of your real estate.
• Taking advantage of techniques for stripping equity and encumbrances such as second mortgages.
• Choosing and maximizing the effectiveness of property insurance to protect your private or business properties.

Bring a complete list of your real estate holdings to your first consultation with one of our asset protection lawyers. We will help you determine the steps ahead, possibly including selling one or more properties at opportune times or optimizing your estate planning.

Examples Of Successful Asset Protection Strategies For Real Estate

When we meet with you, we will listen to your stories and aspirations regarding your residential or commercial real estate holdings. We will then share relevant examples of clients of ours and other property owners in Michigan who have successfully:

• Incorporated real estate ownership and control into trusts, such as domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs)
• Discovered ways to control and use properties without personally owning them
• Taken advantage of tax-saving incentives offered by some municipalities or counties

You may be surprised to learn about opportunities to maximize and protect your real estate assets in ways you had never imagined.

Frequently Asked Questions About Real Estate Asset Protection

Bring your questions, such as those below, about real estate and asset protection to our attention, and we will personalize answers.

How can you and your spouse smooth the way for whichever one of you survives the other to assume full ownership of your marital home?

Through joint tenancy, you and your spouse will have rights of survivorship that can minimize liability for the survivor.

How can you protect your home from potential threats from creditors and government entities?

Individual circumstances vary. For this reason, personalized legal advice is essential whenever the preservation of your home may be at risk. You should know and exercise your right to keep your home free from Be sure to claim your rightful homestead exemption for tax purposes. If you or your spouse must enter a long-term care facility but the other is healthy and wishes to remain at home, ask a lawyer how to protect the right of the healthy spouse to retain ownership of the house. If bankruptcy looms on the horizon, ask your lawyer how much of your home equity will remain off-limits to creditors and opportunities to retain as much of your home’s value as you can.

What if the company that holds your property insurance policy refuses to properly pay for repairs after a disaster?

Getting legal counsel is highly recommended when your home and/or any real estate properties that you own have been damaged in a flood, fire or tornado. Stakes are high and you should understand your rights even if problems have not developed yet between you and your insurer. You may be able to bring a bad faith insurance claim against an insurer that fails to honor its policy terms.

Consult With Our Attorneys For Guidance Along Your Real Asset Protection Journey

Meet with one of our asset protection lawyers to discuss the most effective ways to prioritize the protection of your real estate value and holdings.

Reach our Kalamazoo law office by sending an email inquiry or calling 269-242-2332.