Philadelphia Area Physician Protection Planning
Serving King of Prussia, Springfield and Bala Cynwyd Areas
Doctors are unique in their need for both estate planning and asset protection planning. Over their lifetime, doctors are faced with three challenges to their financial portfolio: medical malpractice suits, taxes, and probate. At The Robinson Law Firm, we believe in comprehensive planning to mitigate all three challenges. Attorney Dahlia Robinson-Ocken is uniquely suited to understand the challenges that physicians face because she is married to a doctor in training.
Estate and Legacy Planning
Estate Planning, if done correctly, can reduce or eliminate the estate tax burden on a doctor's estate. Click here for more information on estate planning fundamentals.
Asset protection
Asset Protection is not about hiding or concealing assets. It is about using the existing laws appropriately to obtain the best possible level of protection for the client's assets in case an attack comes along. We cannot make the client's assets appear not to exist, but we can create a structure that will make it much less attractive for a potential plaintiff to go after our client. Our preferred strategy is to allow the doctor to maintain control or at least oversight over the assets. The foundational step of every plan is adequate malpractice insurance.
Caution is needed here, however, because only a trained technician can appropriately utilize planning techniques to make them effective. As any doctor can understand, a patient would not go to a neurosurgeon to have a heart valve replaced. All surgeons are not equipped to handle all types of surgery properly. So too, a properly trained estate and legacy planning attorney, namely Dahlia Robinson-Ocken, is needed to create the best estate and asset protection plan.
Clients ask if an asset protection plan will make them invulnerable to lawsuits. The simple answer is that there may be circumstances that nobody can effectively control. Asset protection is time consuming, but worthwhile and the end result is considerably better than if no planning had been done at all. Note: the best time to plan is before the claim arises.