At Mills & Anderson, our attorneys help clients create customized plans that guard against financial exposure. With over 40 years of combined experience, our firm offers aggressive, ethical legal representation and clear, straightforward advice. We serve clients throughout the Las Vegas area, including Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Clark County.
When you hire us, you work directly with experienced partners, so you can be confident that your plan is built on integrity, insight, and experience.
What Do Asset Protection Attorneys in Las Vegas Do?
Asset protection attorneys help protect clients’ financial well-being by identifying and implementing strategies that keep more of their property in their hands. Those strategies may involve planning for:
- Potential lawsuits,
- Creditors,
- Divorce or marital disputes,
- Healthcare costs,
- Business-related liabilities, and
- Market changes or other unexpected events.
An asset protection attorney reviews your financial situation, pinpoints potential risk areas, and establishes legal protections. These protections are most effective when implemented before an issue arises, which is why this work is often called preventative planning, taking steps now to avoid problems later.
Asset Protection Strategies
A skilled Las Vegas asset protection attorney will work with you to create a custom plan that addresses your particular areas of concern. Your plan may use a mix of various legal tools and strategies. We can help you protect assets, minimize tax exposure, and secure your long-term financial goals through it.
Irrevocable Trusts
Irrevocable trusts are a powerful tool that enables individuals to protect assets in exchange for limitations on their control over the assets transferred into them. Once you place assets into a properly structured irrevocable trust, the government regards the assets as no longer belonging to you. As a result, the trust can keep assets out of the reach of creditors and lawsuits, as long as your control over the assets is sufficiently limited.
Irrevocable trusts can serve many purposes, and your lawyer can help you tailor your trust to your particular needs.
Common types of irrevocable trusts include:
- Irrevocable life insurance trusts (ILITs),
- Grantor-retained annuity trusts (GRATs),
- Spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs),
- Charitable remainder trusts (CRTs),
- Medicaid asset protection trusts (MAPTs), and
- Qualified personal residence trusts (QPRTs).
Nevada also allows a special kind of trust called a self-settled spendthrift trust. This irrevocable trust allows you to protect your assets and limit your access to them while still receiving benefits.
Business Entities
Different business structures offer different advantages and disadvantages. An asset protection attorney can help you select the right business structure to protect your assets and enable your business to thrive, including:
- Limited liability companies (LLCs),
- Partnerships,
- C corporations, and
- S corporations.
You can also create a family LLC or family partnership to provide assets and a structure for family participation in your business. You may also protect assets through careful succession planning, where you plan for what will happen to your business after you no longer run it.
Medicaid Planning
Paying for long-term healthcare, such as in-home assistance or assisted living costs, can quickly drain your savings. Medicaid offers long-term care coverage but has strict asset and income limits. Medicaid planning helps individuals qualify for assistance without first spending down their assets.
An asset protection attorney can help with:
- Setting up a Medicaid asset protection trust (MAPT),
- Setting up a Medicaid qualified income trust (Miller Trust), and
- Timing asset transfers to avoid Medicaid look-back period penalties.
When you apply for Medicaid, the government looks at the assets you have owned within the last five years, which is called the Medicaid look-back period. If you transferred assets away without receiving fair market value in those five years, you may be subject to a Medicaid look-back penalty, making you ineligible for coverage for some time. That look-back period makes it essential to plan for potential long-term care coverage well before you need it.
Real Estate
Real estate planning might include:
- Filing a homestead declaration,
- Using joint ownership or other methods of titling ownership documents, and
- Protecting rental or investment properties through business entities.
Nevada law protects up to $605,000 in equity in your primary residence through a homestead exemption. However, this protection is not automatic. An attorney can help you file the homestead declaration and structure your property ownership for added security.
Prenuptial, Nuptial, and Postnuptial Agreements
If you are married or planning to marry, a prenuptial (before marriage), nuptial (during marriage), or postnuptial (during or after divorce) agreement can spell out which assets belong to whom and how finances work between you and your partner. These agreements can be helpful if you:
- Own a business,
- Have children from a previous relationship, or
- Have a significant wealth disparity with your spouse or future spouse.
These legal documents help ensure both spouses are on the same page when entering the marriage, avoid court battles if divorce occurs, and protect the assets most important to you.
Services Offered by Asset Planning Attorneys in Las Vegas
Asset planning attorneys in Las Vegas do more than prepare legal paperwork. At Mills & Anderson, we offer comprehensive services to help protect your assets and reduce financial risk.
Comprehensive Risk Assessment
We start by reviewing your finances, needs, and risks, including your:
- Assets,
- Debts,
- Short-term goals, and
- Long-term goals.
Using the information you provide, we can identify what might be at risk and what solutions make sense for your situation.
Custom Legal Structures
We build tailored plans using the tools that fit your needs. We handle, for example:
- Trust documents,
- Business formation and filings, and
- Wills and other estate planning documents.
We ensure you complete all documents in compliance with Nevada law.
Coordination with Other Professionals
Asset protection works best when all your legal and financial plans are connected. We coordinate with accountants, financial advisors, appraisers, and other professionals whose services you rely on.
Ongoing Legal Guidance
Life changes. Whether you buy property, start a business, or experience a significant life event like marriage or divorce, your asset protection plan should adjust too. We provide continued legal support to help you update your strategy as your needs evolve.
Urgent Legal Action and Defense
If you are already facing legal demands, we can take immediate action. We can negotiate on your behalf, seek mediation or arbitration, and defend your interests in court if needed.
Start Protecting What Matters Most
You worked hard to build your wealth—do not wait until it is at risk to take action to protect it. At Mills & Anderson, we help individuals, families, and business owners throughout Las Vegas and surrounding areas create innovative, effective plans to protect their assets.
Call Mills & Anderson or contact us online to speak with a trusted asset protection attorney in Las Vegas. Let us help you protect what you have built.
