A: I must commend you on embarking on the need to fulfill some serious financial planning considering recent and proposed tax law changes. For the first time in over twenty years, these new laws may have a significant impact on how you fund and transfer your accounts to your heirs. A misstep or two could cost you and your family hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions of dollars in the long run.
First, I want to let you know that you most likely have located the right type of professional to help you achieve your planning goals. This data is pertinent to confirm before engaging in this process and if your advisor is not requesting these confirmations, this might be your first clue that it is time to incorporate someone else to help you achieve this goal. Secondly, if your advisor is recommending you fund any type of trust or investment as part of an asset protection strategy, then your advisor should have you sign and affirm what is called an Affidavit of Solvency. This is a sworn statement, which indicates that the transfer of assets an individual or entity is about to make will not render that individual or entity bankrupt or insolvent. These may seem like extreme steps, but you should know that the top planning firms in the nation require these types of affirmations ahead of and during such planning engagements. I follow these procedures with my firm and anyone you may be working with who does not probably is not collaborating with a network of premier tax and estate planning minds on a daily and weekly basis on behalf of their clients.
