858.792.5988

Serving San Diego for over 35 Years

Clients, Colleagues, and Friends,

I retired on Dec. 31, 2019, and officially closed my office, after 42 years of practicing law. I thank you all for your confidence in me and your friendship over the years. My colleague David Dufek who has shared the suite with me for the past two years is taking over my practice and will have all client files. Not only will David be taking over the practice, he remains in the suite and is taking over my fax and phone lines. You are free to leave your files with David or pick them up. David's practice like mine includes will, trusts, and probate, as well as personal injury work. He also does landlord - tenant work and debtor - creditor matters including bankruptcy.

I wish you all the best.

Alex

How Do I Make Sure the Creep My Daughter Married Doesn’t Inherit My Money?

Advice on inheritance from a San Diego trust attorney

The San Diego trust attorney hears this question, “How do I make sure the creep my daughter married doesn’t inherit my money?” in one form or another all of the time.  And, if you’re like most people, you too want to protect your child’s inheritance from predators and creditors.

You can provide asset protection to your child that you can’t get for yourself without taking your money offshore.  By giving your child her inheritance in trust, as opposed to outright, you can protect the assets from a divorcing spouse, bankruptcy, malpractice claim, medical crisis, car accident lawsuit, slip and fall lawsuit, and other lawsuits.

If you give the inheritance outright, meaning that you simply name your child as a beneficiary in your will, the inheritance can be seized by creditors at any time.

A good analogy for a trust is a treasure chest.  Picture a treasure chest filled with gold (and all your hard earned money.)  When you pass your assets to your child in a trust, it is like passing assets in a treasure chest.  And, your child is the only person who has a key to get into the treasure chest.  The creepy husband is not given a key.

She can get into the trust for her health, education, and maintenance.  Just about any expense you can think of would be covered by these ascertainable standards.

It is imperative that you chat with your daughter and explain that she needs to keep the assets in trust to keep the asset protection.  If she pulls them out and puts them in her individual name or in joint names with her creepy husband, the asset protection is lost.

So, for example, if your child wants to purchase a house, she should purchase the house in the name of the trust.  She should not pull the money out into her own name and then purchase the house.

It is prudent for your child to serve as a co-trustee with another individual.  This grants a much higher level of asset protection than if she serves as trustee alone.  That other individual could be any adult or a CPA, or trust company.

If you want to protect your daughter’s inheritance from that creepy man she married, call our San Diego trust attorney for an estate planning consultation.  We can help.