Weston

Attorney Phil Rarick and his family have lived in Weston for over 20 years. Although trust and Weston estate planning attorney “by day”, Phil takes pride in his past “night job” as an AAU travel basketball coach, AYSO soccer coach, and YMCA youth basketball coach at the Weston Regional Park where he has helped mentor and develop student-athletes for many years.

As a small business law firm, Phil understands the pressures and risks faced by the doctor, professional, or small business owner. For over 20 years his firm, Rarick & Bowden Gold, P.A., has been a leading Weston estate planning law firm dedicated to helping you protect your family and business’ hard-earned dollars from lawsuits and helping to establish estate plans that protect the lifestyle of your children.

Physicians of course are especially vulnerable to lawsuits in our hostile, highly litigious environment. More than 60% of doctors over the age of 55 have been sued at least once, according to a new survey by the American Medical Association (AMA). Although 65% of these claims are dropped or dismissed, they are still costly and mentally stressful. The good news is that there are multiple, effective legal strategies for doctors and all professionals to fight back and better protect your assets from such legal threats if done in a timely fashion. You should not wait to do this planning after you are put on notice of a claim – it may be too late!

A good asset protection plan is similar in some ways to an effective defensive strategy employed by the best defensive coordinators in the NFL today: there are multiple levels of defense that may employ such tactics as:

• Maintaining a low public profile on public records to keep your name off records that could easily show up in a quick Google search or other internet search engine.
• Taking full advantage of Florida homestead protection: Florida has one of the strongest homestead protection laws in the USA – but you must be careful not to jeopardize this protection by poor planning.
• Use of Delaware or Wyoming LLCs to protect your equities.
• Use of a Nevada Hybrid Domestic Asset Protection trust.
• Consideration of an off-shore plan that may employ both a Nevis LLC and Cook Island Trust. Such a plan should likely be considered by doctors in a group or individual practice.
• Protection of highly exposed assets – such a real estate rentals. Real estate, especially real estate with significant equity – is one of the most attractive assets for creditors because they can place a lien on the property and then foreclose. If you have Florida rental property, it most likely should be titled in a Florida LLC or LLLP (a limited liability limited partnership) with a robust, anti-Olmstead operating agreement or partnership agreement.

Note For Physicians: It is important to have basic, quality malpractice insurance but such insurance does in fact make you a more attractive target for a claim. You want to discourage a claimant from going beyond policy limits by making your assets exceptionally difficult to attack.

Attorneys at Rarick & Bowden Gold, P.A. have many years of experience providing asset protection and estate planning services for physicians and other professionals. We have worked with well over 300 physicians and health professionals over the years.

We focus on helping Weston families and businesses take full advantage of the legal protections in Florida law and other jurisdictions. Weston estate planning attorney Phil Rarick has over 25 years of experience in trust, wills, estate planning, and probate law. Most of our referrals come from our past clients and local attorneys, CPAs, and financial planners.

We can usually design and prepare your estate protection structure in 2-3 weeks from the initial consultation. If you live in Weston, we will waive the initial $325 consultation fee and give you a free initial consultation. At this first meeting, we will listen and learn about your family and business. We will identify the key legal objectives for your family. We will then give you an outline of your estate structure and a scope of work describing the legal work recommended and the total cost. Our goal is to achieve the core legal objectives for your family at a reasonable cost.

Getting started is easy and quick. Call 305-556-5209 or email info@raricklaw.com to schedule the initial meeting with a Weston trust and asset protection attorney. As mentioned, this meeting is free if you are a Weston resident. We will send you a short information form that will not take more than 10 minutes to complete. We look forward to discussing these important family issues with you.

Rarick & Bowden Gold, P.A. is located at 2853 Executive Park Drive, Suite 103, Weston (behind Pollo Tropical), and also has offices in Miami Lakes and Ft. Lauderdale. Our staff is multi-lingual in both English and Spanish.