Conventional estate planning is only half of the equation and if you leave yourself exposed to the possibility that someone could launch a lawsuit against you, you could be financially ruined with just one of these unfortunate intrusions into your existing estate planning. 
Comprehensive estate planning must include traditional estate planning tools to maximize the amounts that you can pass along at death, as well as appropriate asset protection planning structures to insulate your wealth from a lawsuit prior to death. Since traditional estate planning only looks at half of the problem, you need to consider your potential risk for being attacked by a lawsuit.
Successful business owners, doctors, attorneys and affluent families are routinely targets for lawsuits. Whether it’s premises liability claim, from someone who alleges they slipped and fell on your property, or a creditor coming after you, it is extremely important to realize that asset protection planning must occur at the same time as your general estate planning because all of the traditional estate planning in the world will not help to protect those assets from being potentially decimated unless you’ve included asset protection planning in the conversation.
