Retirement accounts are a major asset. How can they be protected from creditors?
Each state has their own series of protection laws with regard to retirement plans. And there's a series of federal laws that protect retirement plans. So check with your local state. In California where we practice, California has very strong protection laws when it comes to retirement plans, except when it comes to IRAs. IRA protections only extend to what we call means test. How much do you need for your reasonable necessaries and everything else beyond that is subject to credit or claims. We use a device called a private retirement plan which you can read about on our website. In a private retirement plan for people who are employed can protect assets from creditors except in the case of child support and alimony which provides a much more robust protection scheme than keeping your funds in an IRA account.