To protect your financial future should be one of your main priorities. When considering smart financial moves, most people do not put a lot of thought into future medical bills. Instead, most hope that they never have to deal with catastrophic medical costs. You can never predict what may or may not happen. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans face bankruptcy due to medical bills.
If you cannot pay your bills, then you could lose your assets to the hospital. Whether your assets are seized or used to pay off the debts after bankruptcy, you could lose everything. The following should help you protect your assets.
Do You Need Asset Protection?
Everyone has potential health risks. Even if you are healthy, there is always a chance that you could get into an accident that leads to costly medical bills. Now, for those who have higher risks of medical bills, it makes more sense to ensure that their assets are protected. For those who have underlying conditions, health risks, and have undergone multiple procedures, asset protection may be a smart choice.
Think about the assets that you have. How much are your belongings worth? You want to include your cars, real estate, and any savings accounts that you have. To know the value is to know how much you could lose.
Is an Irrevocable Trust Enough?
To protect your assets, you may want an irrevocable trust. When you create an irrevocable trust, you can never change the document or amend it. The point is that you are now separate from those assets. When your assets are secure in a trust, creditors cannot touch them. If you owe medical bills or if the hospital takes you to court to pay your medical costs, then a lawsuit could force you to lose your assets. An irrevocable living trust keeps creditors from being able to touch the assets within it. If you want to protect your assets for your children or other heirs, then this type of trust works to keep your assets safe in the meantime.
Medical costs can come as a surprise. Regardless of your health risks, if you have assets that you plan to pass on to beneficiaries or assets that you would not want to use to settle a legal dispute, then you may want to consider an irrevocable living trust. For other asset protection plans, consult with a wills and trusts lawyer, like a wills and trusts lawyer in Sacramento, CA, today.
Thanks to Yee Law Group, PC for their insight into protecting your assets from catastrophic medical bills.