What happens when your kid turns criminal? How do you protect the family while trying to save him or her?
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If you have a troubled teen, chances are you already have your share of heartache at home. The last thing you need is more things on your plate or more stress at your doorstep. If your teenager has found him or herself on the wrong side of the law, you may now have legal battles on top of everything else. Your position is precarious, and there are a lot of unanswered questions. How can you help your teen turn things around? What will the future hold if that doesn’t happen? How do you protect the rest of your family?
Is it Time to Protect Your Assets?
Understandably, your primary concern is the health and well-being of your child – that’s number one. But in the event of legal trouble or teenage mischief, someone else may get hurt as well. If an alleged victim decides to hold you or your child financially responsible for any sort of damages, your savings, your business, even your home could be at risk. Are you prepared for that?
For your teen, you’d be willing to get any outside help you thought necessary, and that’s a good thing. But what about your family’s financial state? Are you willing to risk watching everything you’ve worked so hard to provide be sold out from under you, all to pay off creditors? Before a bad situation becomes much worse, consider taking some legal precautions to protect your assets if the unthinkable happens.
What Are the Options?
There are a host of steps you can take now, to guard your family’s future against lawsuits for any reason. A combination of insurance policies, plus legal entities such as various trusts or partnerships can offer peace of mind and financial protection. Either insurance or a legal asset protection strategy is typically inadequate; you need both.
Depending on your situation, your attorney may recommend any number of asset protection plans. This isn’t a complete list, but a few of your options may include:
- Family limited partnership
- Living Trust
- Children’s Trust
- Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust
- Land Trust
- Qualified Personal Residence Trust
Talk to An Expert
The best way to decide which asset protection strategies are right for your family is to talk to an asset protection attorney. However, the best time to take action is well in advance of any suit being filed. While there are a lot of things you can do to provide this protection before a claim is made, there isn’t much you can do after that happens. Protect your assets now, and you’ll be able to focus on your family when they need you most.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: iStock
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