Business owners can be so concerned with day-to-day operations that they fail to prepare for the inevitable day when they are no longer able to run their business. There always seems to be time until there is no more time. Business succession planning may be the “single-most neglected aspect” of running a company. Further, this issue is relevant to business clients as well as to attorneys who run their own practices. Whether plans to depart the business are imminent or far-off, it is important to act now, as proper business succession planning can often take several years to implement.

Protecting assets is a major goal of estate planning, and as of March 2022, nineteen states have statutes that allow the creation of a domestic asset protection trust (DAPT). A DAPT is an irrevocable trust designed to protect trust assets from beneficiaries’ creditors. An even better version of this trust is the hybrid DAPT, which can offer another layer of protection for your client. Read on to learn how it works.

While you may have a strong handle on the substantive estate planning law required to effectively run your practice, it is natural for new and transitioning practitioners to experience difficulties acquiring clients. Law school prepares you to pass the bar and begin practicing law, but it does not prepare you to operate and market a business.