How to Protect Your Assets From Lawsuits in St. Petersburg

Various strategies can protect your assets from lawsuits, including tenancy by entirety, LLCs, insurance, irrevocable trusts, and the homestead exemption. That said, you should personalize your asset protection strategy based on your specific circumstances. Contact an asset protection lawyer in St. Petersburg to learn more about the next steps.

If You’re Already Facing a Lawsuit, It Might Be Too Late to Consider Asset Protection 

First, you should know that asset protection strategies should always be proactive instead of reactive. In other words, it might already be too late if you’re currently facing a lawsuit. For example, you may be aware of a defamatory online comment you made against a business owner in your community. If you now realize that a defamation lawsuit is inevitable, you cannot simply start shifting your money around to protect against a potential lawsuit.

If you attempt these strategies, a civil court could deem them “fraudulent transfers.” Under these circumstances, the transfers are “voidable,” which means your asset protection strategies will not function as intended. This is why it makes sense to execute these strategies long before you actually need them.

Use Your Primary Residence as an Asset Protection Strategy

One of the best things about living in Florida is the fact that your primary residence has built-in asset protection features. The Florida homestead exemption protects your home against almost all creditors, including lawsuits. Even if someone sues you and wins, they cannot force you to sell your home in order to cover their damages. You can maximize this strategy by transferring more of your wealth into your homestead.

The beauty of this strategy is that timing doesn’t matter. Even if you are facing an imminent defamation lawsuit, you can simply use your excess personal wealth to pay off your mortgage. Now that your wealth is contained within your homestead, it is untouchable.

Use an LLC or Corporation 

Another obvious way to protect your personal assets is with a limited liability company (LLC) or a corporation. However, this strategy only works if the main threat of legal action comes from your business activities. By separating your business operations, you can protect your personal wealth against the legal threats against your business.

Can an Asset Protection Lawyer in St. Petersburg Help Me? 

If you are already facing a lawsuit, it might be too late to engage in asset protection strategies. In other words, the best time to implement these strategies is before you actually need them. To explore your options, contact a St. Petersburg asset protection lawyer. Choose Drude Tomori Law, a law firm that serves clients in St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Bradenton, and Lakewood Ranch.

Source:

 leg.state.fl.us/STATUTES/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0726/Sections/0726.105.html