estate planning law firm

NW Estate Law, LLC

Planning for your Life, your Livelihood, your Legacy

Beaverton, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington Estate Planning Law Firm

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Asset Protection for Professionals and Business Owners in Oregon and Washington

Serving Clients in Beaverton and Vancouver and the Surrounding Area

Asset protection planning involves making prudent decisions today to protect yourself, your business, and your hard-earned assets from loss due to lawsuits, creditors or bankruptcies. Asset protection planning is especially prudent for professionals and business owners, whose personal assets could be at risk due the nature of their employment.

Statistically and anecdotally, we all know that the number of divorces, lawsuits and bankruptcies is staggering. While no one believes lightning will strike them, wealth created through a lifetime of work, saving and investing can be lost overnight if these forms of man-made lightning do strike. To protect your assets from such disaster, proper risk management strategies should be given careful consideration. These strategies include exempting your assets from the claims of creditors, limiting your liability through legal entities, and transferring your risk through insurance.

Exempting Assets in Oregon and Washington

State and federal laws exempt some of your assets from the claims of creditors. Important to note is that while some states allow you to choose either the state or federal exemptions, in others you must use the state exemptions … and federal bankruptcy exemptions are not available.

Once you have identified the protected asset classes available to you under applicable law, it may be prudent to maximize your protection by converting non-exempt assets into exempt assets.

Limiting Liability for Professionals & Business Owners

Many entrepreneurs operate their businesses as sole proprietors rather than through a legal entity, such as a Corporation or a Limited Liability Company. Whether their business is home-based or in the Fortune 500, these business owners are attracted by the informality of sole proprietorship. They also do not want to incur legal fees to create and maintain a legal entity. However, in addition to other advantages, conducting business through a legal entity may offer substantial risk management benefits.

While lawsuits brought against a sole proprietorship are really lawsuits against the owner’s personal assets, lawsuits against a properly created and maintained legal entity are really lawsuits against the entity’s assets. Nevertheless, the selection of an appropriate legal entity is critical for managing your risk.

Transferring Risk with Insurance

When was the last time you reviewed the details of your liability insurance program with your insurance professionals? Are your policies current? Are the coverage limits adequate and are the deductibles reasonable? Have you scrutinized the policies for loopholes? Remember: the fundamental philosophy of any insurance coverage is to pay a premium you can afford to transfer a risk you cannot afford. During your asset protection planning, take time to understand both the risks you have retained and the risks you have transferred.

Contact asset protection attorney Meredith Williamson today for help.

Client Success Stories

Mount Hood Senior Solutions
February 7, 2022.
We value and appreciate all of their hard work. Always a pleasure to work with! Communicates effectively and in a timely manner. Highly recommend
Nicole Lu
December 7, 2020.
We used Meredith for our estate planning and cohabitation contract recently after we bought a house. She was very responsive, very Covid aware/safe and lovely to work with.
Daniel Lee
January 7, 2020.
We had a great experience working with Meredith when putting together our estate planning documentation. She was always professional and courteous, explaining legal concepts and terminology in a way that was straightforward for us to understand. Meredith was responsive and open to answering our questions so we could fully evaluate different options. She provided sound recommendations for us to consider based on our current position and point in life. Even given the gravity and importance of the estate planning process, Meredith put us at ease and made us feel comfortable coming to decisions and documenting outcomes that work best for us. We intend to work with Meredith for future needs that we may have, and would highly recommend working with her to others.
Floyd Frick
March 28, 2019.
The best! .... I used Meredith to get me thru an estate settlement. It went smooth. Thanks.
Christine Borchert
August 9, 2018.
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Beaverton, Oregon Office

1865 NW 169th Place, Suite 202
Beaverton, Oregon 97006

Vancouver, Washington Office

201 NE Park Plaza Drive, Suite 200
Vancouver, Washington 98684

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