by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 30, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Protection, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, Income Tax, News & Commentary, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
The IRS has released Revenue Procedure 2024-40, which specifies annual inflation adjustments for tax year 2025. Some highlights: Gift, estate and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amounts: $13.99 million (up from $13.61 million) Annual gift tax exclusion (IRC...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 30, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Charity, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) planning can be quite complex, and the expenses involved usually are justified only with a very large gift to charity, well north of a million. Practically speaking most of this planning is tax-driven and must be to make it feasible,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 27, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Protection, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
There seems to be a misconception among some California estate planning attorneys that BDOT planning (BDOT stands for Beneficiary Deemed Owner Trust; also called a 678 trust, named after IRC §678) is inconsistent with, and should never be used with, a trust designed...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 20, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Dying Embarrassed, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, GunLaw.Pro, Honor, Income Tax, Life, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
At the beginning of this year, the California Uniform Directed Trust Act (CUDTA) went into effect, codified in Probate Code §§ 16600-16632. It was a long time coming, having been first proposed back in 2010 by our state bar’s trust and estate section. When it...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 17, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, GunLaw.Pro, Honor, Income Tax, Life, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin, Venture Protection
Six years ago I posted this article proposing use of an advanced planning technique known as the Health and Education Exclusion Trust (HEET) to leave a dynastic legacy of firearm training. Such a trust might be called a Gun HEET. The Fall of the Republic and...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 10, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blended Families, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Charity, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Firearm Legacy, Firearm Training, Fortune, Gift Tax, GST Tax, GunLaw.Pro, Health Planning, Honor, Incapacity Planning, Income Tax, Life, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Pet Protection, Property Tax, Punishment, Regulatory Compliance, Religious Faith, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin, Venture Protection
[Central Coast residents: You can safely ignore this article because we are here to help you with comprehensive planning.] Most of our local clients prefer to have the first meeting in person at our office in Morro Bay. After that initial meeting, many of these local...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 18, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Venture Protection
Limited liability is an important advantage provided by corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs). The personal asset protection that corporations and LLCs provide for their owners, however, is not absolute. To maintain the liability shield, owners must...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 16, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Fortune, Income Tax, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
There is no law that limits the number of LLCs an entrepreneur can own. Forming multiple LLCs may make sense under certain circumstances: for example, companies that have several rental properties, separate businesses with common ownership, or when one business makes...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 13, 2024 | Blog, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Fortune, Income Tax, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
Increasing costs and rising interest rates have impacted many businesses. If your business is in crisis, there are steps you can take that could improve your business’s financial condition and help it successfully move forward. Entrepreneurs are competent, but they...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 12, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
Equipment leasing is an alternative to purchasing new equipment. Amid volatile interest rates and inflated equipment costs, more businesses are turning to leases as they look for ways to preserve cash while acquiring the equipment they need to operate. Equipment...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 10, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Fortune, Income Tax, Operation & Governance, Tax Planning, Trust Admin, Venture Protection
A distribution from a limited liability company (LLC) is a payment of cash or property made by an LLC to the LLC’s owners, also known as members. Although state law sets forth certain default rules, LLC members can specify in the LLC’s operating agreement when and how...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 9, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Limitation of Liability, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
When you are first starting a business, operating it as a sole proprietorship may make a lot of sense. Sole proprietorships are simple and inexpensive to set up and maintain: they are operated by a single taxpayer and are the most common form of business organization....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 1, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Honor, Life, News & Commentary, Punishment, Religious Faith, Spendthrift Children
I’ve written several times lately on disinheritance and more benign alternatives to disinheritance. There is definitely a trend afoot toward greater disinheritance. I’ve noticed this trend in comments from colleagues on our estate planning attorney online...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Sep 1, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Honor, Life, News & Commentary, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
There is a wonderful recent story about a Minnesota family that has baptized 27 babies over three generations with a baptismal gown made from the World War II parachute that saved grandpa’s life! I’m always coming up with analogies for trusts and often use...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 4, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, News & Commentary, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Venture Protection
National Small Bus. United v. Yellen, No. 5:22-cv-1448-LCB (N.D. Ala. Mar. 1, 2024) On Friday, March 1, 2024, in National Small Bus. United v. Yellen, Judge Liles C. Burke of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ruled via memorandum...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 23, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Venture Protection
Platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO have disrupted an industry once dominated by hotels and resorts, allowing individuals to open their homes and residential properties to travelers. The boom in short-term rentals has created new opportunities for investors who want to...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 20, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Venture Protection
Over time, your business can undergo significant changes. What may have started as a humble, one-person operation can grow into a more complex company, with multiple owners, employees, an evolving mission statement, and increasing risks. As the scope and goals of your...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 19, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Regulatory Compliance, Venture Protection
Due diligence is the process of obtaining and verifying information about a company or person in preparation for a business transaction, such as an acquisition, merger, or potential new business partner. Generally, due diligence provides information about the company...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 9, 2024 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Venture Protection
All registered corporations are required by law to hold an annual meeting. Limited liability companies (LLCs), although not subject to the same statutory requirement, may hold regular meetings in accordance with their governing documents. What Is the Purpose of a...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 12, 2023 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Fortune, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Tax Planning, Trust Admin, Venture Protection
Did you ever put off studying for a final, until the night before the final? That’s pretty much how the planning community is feeling about the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which will go into effect January 1, 2024. Congress passed the devilish law several...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 22, 2023 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Admin, Estate Planning, Fortune, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement 2.0 Act (SECURE 2.0 Act). The previous SECURE Act in 2020 made several changes to retirement planning: It increased the required beginning date (RBD) for required...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Aug 9, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Venture Protection
Small business owners are no strangers to risk management. Owning and operating a small business entails a certain level of unpredictability. Despite your best efforts to stay on top of supply chains, marketing, sales, competitors, employees, and cash flow, unexpected...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Aug 8, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Business Succession, Buying or Selling a Closely Held Business, Creditors & Predators, Entity Formation, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Limitation of Liability, Operation & Governance, Regulatory Compliance, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
Trusts are usually associated with estate planning, but trusts can also apply to business operations. As a small business owner, you can hold the business in a trust instead of using a business entity such as a limited liability company (LLC) or corporation. Business...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jun 16, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blended Families, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Fortune, Income Tax, Tax Planning
The Basis Optimized Trust (BOT) is an advanced option for planning that may yield better results than the more common types of irrevocable trusts, such as credit shelter (bypass) trusts, or qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) trusts, which have been the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 26, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Career Maintenance, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Fortune, Honor, Life, Religious Faith, Spendthrift Children
I stole the title of this post from a great Babylon Bee article that just came out. For those who don’t know, Babylon Bee is satire. Strangely, their satirical articles often do come true. And this particular title hews closely enough to family settings often...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 7, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Operation & Governance, Venture Protection
When setting up your business, one of the most significant decisions you will make is which type of entity to form. If you have settled on forming a limited liability company (LLC), you must also choose the type of management structure it will have. LLCs can be...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 31, 2022 | Asset Protection, Blog, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Estate Tax, Fortune, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
The Beneficiary Deemed Owner Trust (BDOT) is one of several options to consider for “trusted beneficiaries” (pun intended) to whom you are open to giving some access to trust income and/or principal. (Another option might be the Beneficiary Controlled...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 30, 2019 | Asset Protection, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
Dear Clients and Students, On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act). The SECURE Act, which is effective January 1, 2020. The Act is the most impactful legislation affecting...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 6, 2019 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Tax Planning
Outright distributions, even if staged at various ages, signify outdated planning. The Beneficiary Controlled Trust, pioneered by my friend Steve Oshins and his father, fills the gap between outright distribution and extreme asset protection — very...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 24, 2018 | Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Tax Planning
This Virginia attorney writes a very good article summarizing some of the problems of transferring real estate to a child as an alternative to actual estate planning. Capital gains tax due to loss of basis step-up, medicaid lookback (California’s medi-cal...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Oct 19, 2018 | Asset Protection, Bloodline Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
California recently (9/14/18) joined a few other states that have enacted the Uniform Trust Decanting Act. A lot of states have decanting statutes, several dozen in fact, but they vary greatly and this uniform act is more restrictive than those in some of the more...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 14, 2018 | Archived, Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children
You’ve heard a lot about asset protection in recent years — why so much talk about asset protection? We’ll focus on this topic at our Family Protection Clinic (aka estate planning seminar) lunch meeting on Tuesday, January 30, 2018. (Our weekly seminar...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jan 13, 2018 | Archived, Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Retirement Planning, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
For many families, a large portion of the estate rests in a retirement plan which, on its own and without further planning, is essentially a separate estate plan with assets left completely unprotected. How do you protect and preserve the inheritance of retirement...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Dec 4, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators
UVTA is an attempt by trial lawyers and pointy-headed liberal law professors to resolve conflict of laws in favor of the state from which transfers are made, effectively ending asset protection as we know it. This is obviously not supported by our legal...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 25, 2017 | Asset Protection, Business Succession, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Tax Planning, Venture Protection
Some of the reasons listed here: Despite the proposed high estate, GST and gift tax exemptions and whether there’s repeal, trusts will remain extremely popular for many non-tax reasons, including: family governance/succession/education; ability to override the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Nov 23, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Spendthrift Children
A huge sea change in California asset protection law is sending assets to sanctuary states, like Nevada, more willing to protect those assets than creditor-friendly California. That other states better protect funds in self-settled trusts is old news. Many states,...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 22, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Spendthrift Children
SCOCA has ruled that a creditor/predator can reach up to the entire amount of trust sums due and payable to a beneficiary, plus up to 25% of specified future payments, underscoring the crucial value of having trustees with full discretion over distributions....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Jul 22, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning
He concluded, “The court did the right thing. They said, listen, our legislature determined what the public policy was in our state and they specifically included it. It’s a clear statute.” That’s settled in Nevada now, providing protection to Nevada...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 17, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship, Spendthrift Children
“Great wealth transfer” has joined “silver tsunami” in the lexicon of aging America. It refers to the wave of wealth, estimated to be in the trillions, which will flow from the oldest generation in the coming decades. Yet evidence suggests that many Americans...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | May 15, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Income Tax, Spendthrift Children, Tax Planning
Just so we’re clear — I don’t sell IRA’s, I draft trusts, including the type that will make your IRA’s actually work as intended. Read the article, but keep in mind that although “trusteed IRAs” are an improvement over the...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 23, 2017 | Asset Protection, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Spendthrift Children
Are 72 virgins really enough? What if they turn out to be 72 Virginians? If you are bound and determined to blow yourself into smithereens or commit some other irrevocable act of terror, at least buy some life insurance so your (surviving) descendants can live like...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 11, 2017 | Asset Protection, Career Preparation, Creditors & Predators, Family Maintenance, Family Protection, Spendthrift Children
Regardless of the tax implications, there are several nontax reasons to set up a dynasty trust. First, you can designate the beneficiaries of the trust assets spanning multiple generations. Typically, you might provide for the assets to follow a line of...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Apr 2, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators
Trustophobic claptrap: In Australia, Canada and the US, the current anti-money laundering framework shows a tendency to rely on financial institutions to conduct the necessary background checks on real estate transactions… there are no checks on cash...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 23, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning
Even if you expect your children to be over age eighteen by the time you and your spouse die, you may want to consider keeping assets in a trust for your children to “protect them from themselves” until they reach a certain age when you think they will be...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 18, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning
In self-defense, if you train to draw your gun with an explosive Count 1, you will have more time and more options during counts 2 through 5. It’s the same with asset protection. Take the initial steps now so you have more options later. And there are...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Mar 11, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Family Protection
Credit card fraud appears to be most prevalent. 51 percent of respondents said that at least one of their clients was a victim of credit card fraud in the past year. Tax returns getting hijacked is another recent yet unsuspecting trend. In addition to credit...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 26, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning
Article’s tone is rosy, but there are a lot of concerns here. In addition to the seasoning requirement in the asset protection trust statute of the trust situs, there is a ten year seasoning under US bankruptcy law, plus this is CA realty owned by a CA...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 26, 2017 | Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Tax Planning, Trust Admin
The Bespoke Trust Protector – Tailoring the Protector's Role from Matthew McClintock WealthCounsel VP Matt McClintock has been at the forefront in this cutting edge planning area — adapting the age-old concept of trust protector, commonly used in...
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 26, 2017 | Archived, Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Retirement Planning
That adds up to £240,000 a year and will amount to a £2.16million fortune by the time of his anticipated release.Under America’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the pension cannot be touched by creditors, despite Simpson owing almost £27million....
by Dave Duringer - Protective Law Corp | Feb 8, 2017 | Asset Protection, Creditors & Predators, Estate Planning, Family Protection, Financial Mentorship
I don’t agree with everything in this article, but it does make a good point about the lack of estate planning. It is surprisingly tough sometimes to get families to consider holding funds in trust to prevent kids from blowing their inheritance, and I can...