The following is an excerpt from the ABA Journal article “Protecting the Wealth” authored by Sam Braunstein, published in November 1999.
The primary theme that pervades most methods of asset protection in estate planning is simple in concept but often difficult to actually achieve.
During a person’s lifetime, there should be an accumulation of assets that can be passed on to succeeding generations after the person dies. The natural succession in most instances is from one spouse to the surviving spouse, then to their children and grandchildren (and, where appropriate, to designated charities).