In a recent ABA webinar, groups of attorneys from an “asset protection state” and a long-term trust state and from Texas offered their different versions of what their state laws allow terms of asset protection. While Texas does not clearly allow self-settled asset protection trusts (where you put your assets into trust and they are protected from your creditors), Texas does allow something like that if you can get the help of your parent (good) or spouse (better). Some think the best route is to go to an asset protection state. But a recent speaker of national note pointed out a case in which a court invalidated a trust created in another state by a person who lived a state that had a strong public policy against those kinds of trusts. But in all cases, the early bird gets the worm, and he who hesitates is lost.
Probate and Estate Planning News
