Practice Areas · Asset Protection

Texas Asset Protection Attorney

Continuum Counsel by Pratt Law Group, PLLC designs structural asset-protection plans for Texas professionals, business owners, and high-net-worth families — the clients whose livelihoods and net worth carry a real litigation, creditor, or judgment risk. Because our Managing Attorney is dually licensed as an Attorney and CPA, every recommendation is engineered to protect assets without compromising income tax efficiency or estate-tax planning.

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We servePhysicians, dentists, veterinarians, other licensed professionals, business owners, and HNW families

ServingFrisco · Prosper · Plano · McKinney · Dallas · all of Texas

Asset protection is architecture, not evasion.

Genuine asset protection is not a scheme to hide assets from creditors after a lawsuit has been filed. That approach violates fraudulent-transfer law and generally makes the situation dramatically worse. Real asset protection is structural: you build the plan before there is a claim, using entities, trusts, retirement structures, and Texas-specific exemptions that make future assets legally difficult to reach — and unattractive to pursue. The goal is deterrence and defense, not concealment.

The Texas advantage.

Texas is one of the more asset-protection-friendly states in the country. A well-designed Texas asset-protection plan uses several statutory protections that most other states do not offer.

›Unlimited homestead exemption — a Texas homestead (up to 10 urban acres or 100 rural acres) is fully protected from most creditor claims
›Retirement plan protection — ERISA-qualified plans and Texas-exempt IRAs are broadly shielded from creditors
›Life insurance and annuity protection — Texas Insurance Code § 1108 provides substantial protection for cash-value and death-benefit proceeds
›Business entity protection — properly structured LLCs and limited partnerships shield the owner's personal assets from business liabilities and, with proper drafting, shield the business assets from an owner's personal creditors via charging-order limitations
›Long trust duration — Texas has abolished the traditional rule against perpetuities for personal-property trusts, enabling multi-generational asset-protection structures

The structural layers we design.

Effective asset protection is layered — no single instrument accomplishes the full protective effect. A typical Continuum Counsel engagement designs 3 to 5 coordinated layers.

›Operating entity design — separating high-risk operations (e.g., a medical practice) from valuable assets (real estate, equipment, IP) into distinct LLCs, PLLCs, or holding companies
›Charging-order protection — LLC and LP operating agreements drafted to maximize the charging-order remedy as a creditor's sole remedy under Texas Business Organizations Code § 101.112 or § 153.256
›Homestead maximization — deliberate use of the Texas homestead exemption for the primary residence, with defensible funding paths
›Retirement plan optimization — coordinating 401(k), profit-sharing, defined-benefit, and IRA plans to maximize creditor-protected retirement accumulation
›Third-party beneficiary trusts — assets held in irrevocable trusts for spouses, children, or grandchildren with spendthrift and asset-protection language
›Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT) — where a self-settled trust is appropriate, structured in a jurisdiction that supports the design (typically not Texas itself, which does not have a DAPT statute, but neighboring or specialized jurisdictions)
›Life insurance and annuity strategy — coordinated with tax and estate planning

For high-risk professionals.

The clients with the highest asset-protection need are typically licensed professionals in personal-liability specialties. Physicians (especially in high-liability specialties like obstetrics, anesthesiology, and neurosurgery), dentists, veterinarians, chiropractors, and optometrists face malpractice exposure that their insurance policy may not fully cover. Real estate investors face slip-and-fall, environmental, and tenant-injury exposure. Business owners face contract, employment, and product-liability exposure. For each of these client profiles, we design a plan specific to the actual risk vector — not a one-size-fits-all template.

Why an Attorney + CPA matters in asset protection.

Asset protection intersects with income tax, estate tax, and business structure at nearly every decision. A creditor-proof entity may be tax-inefficient. A tax-optimized structure may sacrifice protection. A trust that shields from creditors may accelerate estate-tax exposure. Balancing these considerations requires legal design and tax analysis to happen in the same conversation. Darryl V. Pratt drafts every asset-protection plan with all four dimensions — legal protection, income-tax posture, estate-tax posture, and creditor-remedy analysis — evaluated together.

Frequently Asked

Direct answers.

When should I start asset protection planning?

Before you have a claim, a lawsuit, or a foreseeable creditor. Under Texas fraudulent-transfer law (the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act), transfers made with actual intent to hinder or delay creditors — or transfers made while insolvent for less than reasonably equivalent value — can be reversed by a court and often expose the person making them to additional liability. Asset protection done in advance of a claim is legal and effective. Asset protection done reactively after a claim has arisen is neither.

Does a Texas LLC protect my personal assets from business creditors?

Yes — a properly formed and maintained Texas LLC (or corporation) provides a corporate veil that shields the owner's personal assets from the entity's business liabilities. Two important qualifications: (1) the veil can be pierced if the entity is not respected as a separate legal person — for example, mixing personal and business funds, undercapitalizing the entity, or ignoring formalities. (2) A single-member LLC provides less inside-out protection (protecting entity assets from an owner's personal creditors) than a multi-member LLC because a charging order against a single-member LLC may in some circumstances be avoidable. We design entities to maximize both directions of protection.

How much of my home is protected under Texas homestead law?

The Texas homestead exemption protects an urban homestead of up to 10 acres, and a rural homestead of up to 100 acres for a single adult (200 acres for a family), regardless of the property's value — one of the most generous homestead protections in the United States. Certain claims can still reach the homestead (mortgage debt on the property itself, ad valorem taxes, mechanic's and materialmen's liens for improvements, and some federal claims), but general unsecured creditors cannot force the sale of a Texas homestead.

Are my retirement accounts safe from creditors in Texas?

ERISA-qualified plans (most 401(k), 403(b), pension, and profit-sharing plans) receive strong federal creditor protection. Traditional and Roth IRAs receive substantial protection under Texas law and the federal Bankruptcy Code (with statutory caps that adjust periodically). SEP and SIMPLE IRAs are also broadly protected. Inherited IRAs, however, receive weaker protection following recent case law, which is a key planning consideration for beneficiaries who inherit retirement accounts.

What is a Domestic Asset Protection Trust and do I need one?

A Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT) is a self-settled irrevocable trust — meaning you are both the grantor and a potential discretionary beneficiary — designed to shield trust assets from your future creditors. About 20 U.S. states have DAPT statutes; Texas is not one of them. For Texas residents who need self-settled protection, we design DAPTs in appropriate sister-state jurisdictions with careful attention to conflict-of-laws issues. DAPTs are not appropriate for every client — most Texas clients accomplish their protection goals through entity structuring, homestead maximization, retirement optimization, and third-party trusts, without needing a DAPT.

Can asset protection planning also help with estate tax and income tax?

Yes — the best plans do all three. An irrevocable trust designed for asset protection can also remove appreciation from the taxable estate and, if structured as a grantor trust, allow the grantor to continue paying the trust's income tax (an additional wealth-transfer benefit). An LLC designed for asset protection can also enable valuation discounts for estate-tax purposes. The overlap is one of the primary reasons Continuum Counsel's Attorney + CPA integration is particularly effective in this area.

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