Frost Law Group designs asset protection plans for Summerville families—irrevocable trusts, Medicaid-compliant planning and trusts that protect an inheritance from a child's creditors or divorce. We also tell you plainly what South Carolina law does not allow.
What “asset protection” means here
South Carolina does not have a domestic asset protection trust statute, so you cannot simply move your own assets into a trust you benefit from and put them beyond your creditors. Protection comes from four real tools: giving assets away irrevocably on a timeline, using exemptions the law already provides, structuring ownership properly, and—most often—protecting what your children and grandchildren inherit.
The tools
- Irrevocable trusts. Assets you transfer to a properly drafted irrevocable trust, managed by someone else for your family, are generally outside your estate for creditor and long-term-care purposes once the applicable look-back period passes. You give up control; that is the price of protection.
- Medicaid planning. Medicaid looks back five years at transfers. Planning early—a Medicaid asset protection trust, spousal protections, or a strategy for the family home—can preserve a house or savings for a spouse or children. Planning in the crisis is still possible, but the options narrow.
- Exempt assets. Qualified retirement accounts, life insurance and annuities have statutory protection in South Carolina, and a homestead exemption applies in bankruptcy. Sometimes the best plan is making sure exempt assets stay exempt.
- Inheritance protection. A trust for your children's inheritance—instead of an outright gift—can keep it out of a child's divorce, lawsuit or bankruptcy and away from a spendthrift problem. This is the protection most families actually need, and it fits inside a revocable trust plan.
What we will not do
Transfer assets to hide them from an existing creditor or a pending lawsuit. South Carolina's fraudulent-transfer law unwinds those transfers and the attempt itself becomes evidence. Asset protection is planning done early, in the open, with a clear purpose.
Frost first: if you have been told to “just put the house in the kids' names,” call before signing a deed. That move can cost a step-up in basis, expose the house to the child's creditors, and still count as a transfer for Medicaid.
Plan before you need it.
Bring your list of assets and your worries. We will map what can be protected and what cannot.
Questions people ask
Does a revocable trust protect assets?
No. Because you keep control, a revocable trust is treated as yours by creditors and Medicaid. Protection requires an irrevocable structure.
How long is Medicaid's look-back in South Carolina?
Five years for nursing-home Medicaid, under federal rules applied by South Carolina Healthy Connections.
Can an LLC protect my rental property?
An LLC separates the rental's liabilities from your other assets and is often part of a plan, but it does not protect the rental from your personal creditors by itself.
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