How can we protect our assets?

How can we protect our assets?

Your assets need protection from the government.  The State of Iowa and the IRS are working hard to take your money—assets that you have already paid taxes on. Just imagine, the arms of the government can take away the money intended to go to your autistic grandson’s care if that trust is not written correctly.

That’s why you should contact the attorneys at the Law Group of Iowa.  We will work in compliance with alongside all available statutes, regulations, and laws to protect your assets as much as possible.  We work alongside experts in the fields of accounting, Medicare coverage, long-term care planning, and other niche experts to develop the most effective life and estate plan for you.

Once we begin the process of understanding your assets, we often receive these two comments:  1) I had no idea you would be going so in-depth to find financial vulnerabilities; and 2) I didn’t realize what an asset was.  So starting with the second comment—let’s define what an asset is.  An asset is any fungible, pecuniary, financial, durable, real, or sometimes intangible, property that has value.  What are some of the most common assets we consider?  The most common assets are homes, retirement plans, cars, life insurance, land, farmsteads, agricultural equipment, grain, bank accounts, trust funds, stock options, IRAs, and small businesses.  This should make some sense—an asset is anything that you or someone could own.  You can’t own children—so they aren’t assets—although they are important people to consider within your plan.  Mineral rights are an asset—even though they are intangible and may not be leveraged—so those would need to be considered.

The US government through Medicare, the Veterans Administration, and the IRS consider your assets through different lenses.  For example, Medicare and the IRS both consider your home an asset to be considered for benefit eligibility, but the VA and Medicaid don’t count your home within their eligibility tables.  Why is that?  Government programs are divided into two large categories: federally based and state based. Medicare, the IRS, and the VA are solely creatures of the federal government. More importantly, they each have different goals; therefore, differing ideas of what an asset is.  Medicaid is a creature of both federal and state law and so each state calculates your assets differently.  Wills, Trusts, and Estates are creatures of state law.  Those last three are heavily influenced by federal law—like the S.E.C.U.R.E. Act.

This is why you should contact the experienced attorneys of the Law Group of Iowa.  As you can see, protecting your assets is complicated and without specialized training, attempting to navigate through the plethora of statutes, guidelines, forms, and red tape can be nearly impossible for the lay person.  Give us a call—you have important people in your life that need your attention today.