Asset Protection

Nathan Ziegler & Associates | Lubbock, TX (806) 765-8801

Do you have a loved one living in an assisted living or skilled nursing facility? Will your loved one need long-term care within the next five years?

Whether you are planning ahead or in the middle of a care crisis, we will help your family take the important steps and decisive actions needed to help you reduce or eliminate the rising costs of care for your loved one.

Nathan Ziegler & Associates is a full-service elder law, estate planning, Medicaid nursing home benefits, probate law and veterans benefits firm in Lubbock, TX. We are here to help you navigate through the costs and preparations associated with long-term care and estate planning. With the skilled professionals and attorneys at Nathan Ziegler & Associates, we can provide peace of mind and protection to seniors, their homes and savings, and their families.

We understand that every situation is unique, and invite you to call our office today for an appointment at (806) 765-8801

Practice Areas:

Long-Term Care Planning
Veterans’ Benefits Planning
Disability Planning
Medicaid Planning
Estate Planning
Guardianship
Adult Guardianship Litigation
Probate
Asset Protection

Nathan Ziegler & Associates
12002 Trafalgar Avenue
Ste. 202
Lubbock, TX 79424
(806) 765-8801

Nathan Ziegler & Associates
1030 Andrews Hwy
Suite #101,
Midland, TX 79701

Should I put my house or bank accounts in my kids name?
Most of the time that’s not a good idea. With respect to your house, there’s a ton of reasons not to just deed that to your kids. Whether that’s your house, your rental property, a lot of folks mistakenly just deed that property to their kids. For one thing, the property becomes subject to the life circumstances that may or not be going on in the kids’ life. The kids get in a divorce situation, they go through financial problem, they get bankrupt, they get sued, die unexpectedly, those issues can wreak havoc to a simple plan that says I’m going to put this house in my kids name so that if and when I need care, the government can’t take my house from me. So the nursing home can’t take my house from me, Number 1 I’ll lose a homestead exemptions when I leave the house to my kids. Number 2, if something does happen in my child’s life then the house that used to be mine is no longer mine and that house could be lost to that bad situation in my kids’ life. Also very importantly, the clients doing that oftentimes do not consider the tax ramifications, or they are not familiar with the tax ramifications. Not only do I lose my homestead exemptions when I do that, but my kids are probably going to inherit a tax nightmare down the road when they go to sell the house. With proper planning done, when they inherit the house through a trust or through a sound plan, they’ll get a stepped up basis in that property. If I bought my house for $100,000 20 years ago and now its worth $200,000 and I just give away the house to one of my kids and then down the road they sell it, and they sell it for $200,000, and I paid for $100,000 they’re going to owe capital gains taxes on that $100,000 gain. And that’s going to be probably $15-25,000 in taxes that are going to have to be paid. If on the other hand we have a good plan in place, we can protect that house and hopefully it goes to my kids when I pass away and they will get a stepped up basis when they sell that house for $200,000, there will be no capital gains taxes. There will be no income taxes, it’ll be tax free and that’s going to be a huge difference. So with the proper planning we can protect the house while I’m alive and we can protect the kids after I’m gone and make sure that they don’t get a big tax nightmare with respect to my CDs or my checking account. Putting those type assets into my kids names, that’s also usually not a good idea, it’s a much better idea to put those things into an irrevocable trust done properly so that it’s out of my name but it’s not subject to those bad life circumstances that we all hope and pray don’t happen to our kids.

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