Many people are aware that the foundation of a proper estate plan is a Revocable Living Trust (though sometimes a Last Will and Testament may suffice), but may not realize that they can also benefit from lifetime asset protection planning.
You can take the first step to protect your assets, and discover if asset protection planning is right for you, by sitting down with an experienced San Diego asset protection lawyer to figure out your risk level and to identify an appropriate strategy to guard against potential risk exposure.
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Asset protection is lifetime planning that makes your assets far harder for a future creditor to reach. As your asset protection attorney in San Diego, Katzner Law Group builds that protection in layers: liability insurance first, then business entities, statutory exemptions, and trusts working together. A well-built asset protection plan discourages lawsuits and gives you leverage to settle a claim on favorable terms, provided you put it in place before any claim exists.
California courts handle an enormous volume of civil disputes. In fiscal year 2024-25, the Judicial Council of California reported 299,534 unlimited civil filings and 660,097 limited civil filings statewide, and any one of them can target a business owner, landlord, or professional with assets worth pursuing. When a judgment lands, California offers fewer built-in shields than many states. The state has no statute authorizing domestic asset protection trusts, courts can order LLC interests sold, and the homestead exemption covers only part of a home’s equity. Insurance fills some gaps, yet one judgment can exceed your policy limits.
A San Diego asset protection attorney with a comprehensive estate planning process, one that doesn’t just put in place template form documents but rather digs deep into each client’s particular facts and circumstances, can help you accomplish asset protection goals and ensure that your assets are as well protected as the law allows. After all, these are assets that you have worked a lifetime for and they should not be lost to an unscrupulous creditor or predator.
Shielding Assets from creditors such as a child’s spouse from whom your child may ultimately get divorced, or other third party creditors arising from business or an accident, is a crucial part of estate planning, business planning, and asset protection.
Professionals whose daily decisions carry high stakes face the clearest exposure, particularly physicians, surgeons, and dentists facing claims that can exceed malpractice coverage. Real estate investors and business owners carry similar risk through tenants, employees, and contracts. Liability does not stop at work, though. A family member could cause a car accident, your dog could bite someone, or a contractor could fall from your roof. If one lawsuit would put your wealth at risk, an asset protection attorney in San Diego can pinpoint your exposure and the tools that fit.
Estate planning decides who receives your assets, and how, at your death and also plans for your incapacity. Asset protection planning instead defends those same assets during your lifetime. Understanding how a revocable living trust works, and the purposes it serves, shows why one cannot replace the other – both are vital components of a comprehensive estate plan. Under California law, a trust is revocable by default unless the trust instrument expressly states otherwise, and trust property remains subject to your creditors while you hold such power to revoke. Your revocable living trust avoids probate, keeps your affairs private, and places protective structure around what your beneficiaries inherit, but it provides no asset protection for you personally. Shielding your own assets from a lawsuit therefore calls for different tools.
No single asset protection tool works perfectly on its own. The strongest asset protection plans combine several of the following strategies, each matched to a specific asset and its risk – layering is the key to solid asset protection planning.
A properly formed LLC, corporation, or partnership keeps business liabilities with the business instead of exposing your personal savings. Under California’s charging order statute, a member’s personal judgment creditor receives a lien on that member’s distributions, not on company property. A court can still foreclose on the charged interest and order it sold when distributions will not satisfy the judgment within a reasonable time. Entities also collapse when owners commingle funds, so strict separation of personal and business accounts matters as much as formation.
Rental properties expose owners to claims over tenant injuries, unsafe premises, and habitability. Holding each property, or a small group of properties, in its own LLC keeps a claim tied to one building from reaching your other holdings or your home. Landlord liability coverage and an umbrella policy remain your first defense.
California’s homestead exemption shields part of your home equity from judgment creditors in a forced sale. Under the homestead exemption statute, the protected amount equals the greater of $300,000 or the prior year’s countywide median single-family home price, capped at $600,000, with both figures adjusted annually for inflation. The exemption applies automatically but offers no defense against a mortgage or other voluntary lien. Equity above the protected amount remains exposed and calls for additional planning.
A domestic asset protection trust (DAPT) often allows you to remain a beneficiary of your own irrevocable trust while keeping the assets beyond creditors’ reach, but only in states with statutes authorizing it. California is not one of them, and state law voids creditor protection in a trust you create for yourself. Our solution for California residents is a Hybrid DAPT: a third-party irrevocable trust for your spouse and descendants, with a trust protector, someone you trust implicitly, able to add you as a beneficiary as a last resort. Offshore trusts add cost, federal reporting, and complexity – our clients much prefer domestic asset protection planning.
Privacy will not stop a determined creditor, but it can keep you from becoming a target. San Diego County property records are public, so a deed in your name shows anyone exactly what you own. Holding title through a trust or LLC with a neutral name keeps your name largely off that record.
Gabriel Katzner has a track record, along with a vast number of outstanding public reviews across platforms, of working hard on behalf of individuals who need assistance with comprehensive estate planning services.
Asset protection planning is a legal process that involves reviewing your assets, discussing options with a knowledgeable and caring attorney, and structuring things in a way that gives you the best possible asset protection in lawsuits and against other predators.
If you plan your asset protection proactively, before a creditor situation arises, typically with the assistance of an experienced lawyer, the process is entirely above-board, legal, and you may be able to protect many or all of these assets from a surprise risk of loss, without any allegations of tax evasion or fraud. If you do not have any protection, you could not only find yourself with less assets to live on but you’ll leave less behind for your family than you meant to, simply because the creditors will have already taken it from you. Many people are under the impression that making a plan for asset protection is illegal and has to do with under the table transactions that are intended to deceive. However, this is not the case. Asset protection is legal, permitted by various state statutes, and case law.
That being said, you must generate an asset protection plan well in advance of any creditor concerns because putting it in place when you know of a creditor is typically illegal.
Protect what you have spent a lifetime building before a claim ever arises. Katzner Law Group helps professionals and families across San Diego County design asset protection plans that reflect their goals and concerns for their loved ones. Call us at (855) 528-9637 today to schedule a consultation with an asset protection attorney in San Diego.
In 2002, Gabriel Katzner, the founding partner of Katzner Law Group received his Juris Doctorate with honors from the Fordham University School of Law. After spending the first 7 years of his legal career practicing at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, an international law firm based in New York, he went on to found his own firm.
Gabriel Katzner has a track record, along with a vast number of outstanding public reviews across platforms, of working hard on behalf of individuals who need assistance with comprehensive estate planning services. Finding a lawyer who is knowledgeable about revocable and irrevocable trust planning, guardianship for minor children, asset protection, trust administration and probate, as well as Medi-Cal / Medicaid planning is extremely important.
Years of experience: More than 17 years
Locations: New York, NY / San Diego, CA
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The cost depends on the structures your asset protection plan requires, and we set it as a flat fee agreed to in advance. We do not bill hourly. A hybrid DAPT also carries annual trustee fees, which work like an insurance premium: a recurring cost that pales next to a judgment.
No, not to protect assets from that claim. A transfer made to keep assets from a known or knowable creditor is voidable under California’s Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, and a court can unwind it. Timing turns on when the underlying event occurred, not when the plaintiff filed suit. If your teenager caused an accident a year ago and you moved assets six months ago, a suit filed today can still reach them.
No. Asset protection and your estate plan do different jobs, and each works best alongside the other. Your trust must account for every entity and protective trust you create, since a trust holding LLC interests reads very differently from one holding none. Coordinating both keeps your protection and your estate plan aligned.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. Furthermore, it has received approval from attorney Gabriel Katzner, an experienced estate planning lawyer with over 17 years of legal expertise.