If you’re like most parents, you’ve worked your entire life to accumulate assets and build an estate, which you intend to pass along to your children and grandchildren. And yet today, families are losing their hard-earned money and property faster than they ever thought possible – and in ways they hadn’t imagined.

DIVORCE SETTLEMENTS: With a current divorce rate of 50%, most young people get married without thinking about what happens if the marriage goes sour. Then in a year or two, each has hired a divorce lawyer to fight over who gets the assets. Money you leave to your child could easily wind up in the ex-spouses’s bank account.

REMARRIAGE OF A CHILD’S SURVIVING SPOUSE: If your married child dies, his spouse usually inherits his assets, which includes money you left to your now-deceased child. Then his or her surviving spouse remarries, and dies before the new spouse. The new spouse’s heirs are his or her children, and they receive the inheritance you intended for your grandchildren.

BANKRUPTCY: In recent years, more young people have filed for bankruptcy than have graduated from college. Often, they run up thousands of dollars in credit card debt. They buy new vehicles, including cars, boats and SUVs. They lose money at casinos. Most young people are confident that they’re making wise choices until they discover that they’re over their heads in debt, leaving only one option: Bankruptcy.

LAWSUITS: In the United States, over 90,000,000 (that’s 90 million!) lawsuits are filed each year. That means one lawsuit is filed every 30 seconds. These lawsuits arise from unpaid bills, failed business ventures, car accidents when the person causing the accident doesn’t have enough insurance, back taxes owed to IRS – the list seems endless.

If you want your children and grandchildren to benefit from your inheritance, it’s important that YOU protect your assets before you pass your estate to your children. When you take key steps to protect your property, your children will not lose their inheritance to a divorce property settlement, remarriage of a child’s surviving spouse, bankruptcy, estate taxes and lawsuits.

Instead, after you protect your property, your children can control and benefit from their inheritance during their lifetime. Then, when they die, they pass the remaining assets on to your grandchildren – exactly the way you intended. And you can do all this through the wise use of a ...

Here are 11 ways you benefit when you and your spouse protect your property with a Family Asset Protection Trust:

• You can protect your assets and all growth in value from loss in a child’s Divorce Property Settlement

• You can protect your assets, and all growth in value, for your grandchildren from loss through remarriage of your child’s surviving spouse.

• You can exclude assets and all growth in value from your child’s estate so your grandchildren have no tax liability.

• You can protect your assets and all growth in value from your children’s creditors.

• You can transfer title to assets at your child’s death to your grandchildren without going through Probate.

• You can make your Child the primary Trustee after he/she reaches a specific age.

• You can give your Child complete and unlimited control over all investments when he/she becomes a Trustee.

• You can give your Child complete and unlimited access to the income and principal for life.

• You can give your Child complete and unlimited use of the assets owned by the Trust – such as a home, vacation home, boats, vehicles and planes.

• You can give your Child complete and unlimited power to direct the distribution of the Trust assets to his/her children, spouse or others.

• You can include the power to terminate the Trust if it is no longer useful.

David Smith has extensive experience in designing, funding and administering asset protection trusts for the clients of Smith & Mabley. Call him today to find out how you can enjoy the benefits of comprehensive planning that anticipates creditor and family problems in the future.