Insurance Planning, Asset Protection

You have considerable assets. You need to protect them. Weather its from fire, storms, or other destructive elements or from creditors and lawsuits, potecting your assets is a vital task for every business owner.

Protection from Creditors

The basic principle of asset protection from creditors is for you to separate yourself personally from the assets you would otherwise own, with the intention that future creditors will not be able to attack those assets, even though they may be able to bankrupt you personally.

One method of asset protection is the creation of a discretionary trust, of which you may be the protector and a beneficiary, but not the trustee and not the sole beneficiary. In such an arrangement you may be in a position to benefit from the trust assets, without owning them, and therefore without them being available to your creditors.

Insurance Protection

Any risk that can be quantified can potentially be insured.  Business insurance can be any kind of insurance that protects businesses against risks.

Dugan & Lopatka Financial Services is not tied to any specific insurance carrier and can help you find the insurance coverage you need at the lowest cost available.

Casualty
Casualty insurance insures against accidents, not necessarily tied to any specific property.

Crime insurance is a form of casualty insurance that covers the policyholder against losses arising from the criminal acts of third parties. For example, a company can
obtain crime insurance to cover losses arising from theft or embezzlement.

Property insurance
Property insurance provides protection against risks to property, such as fire, theft or weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire
insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, inland marine insurance or boiler insurance.

Automobile insurance is probably the most common form of insurance and may cover both legal liability claims against the driver and loss of or damage to the
insured's vehicle itself.

Aviation insurance insures against hull, spares, deductibles, hull wear and liability risks.

Boiler insurance (also known as boiler and machinery insurance or equipment breakdown insurance) insures against accidental physical damage to equipment or
machinery.

Builder's risk insurance insures against the risk of physical loss or damage to property during construction. Builder's risk insurance is typically written on an "all risk" basis covering damage due to any cause (including the negligence of the insured) not otherwise expressly excluded. Builder's risk insurance is coverage that protects a  person's or organization's insurable interest in materials, fixtures and/or equipment being used in the construction or renovation of a building or structure should those items sustain physical loss or damage from a covered cause.

Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property.

A fidelity bond is a form of casualty insurance that covers policyholders for losses that they incur as a result of fraudulent acts by specified individuals. It usually insures a business for losses caused by the dishonest acts of its employees.

Flood insurance protects against property loss due to flooding. Many insurers in the U.S. do not provide flood insurance in some portions of the country. In response to this, the federal government created the National Flood Insurance Program which serves as the insurer of last resort.

Landlord insurance covers residential and commercial properties which are rented to others.

Marine insurance and marine cargo insurance cover the loss or damage of ships at sea or on inland waterways, and of cargo in transit, regardless of the method of transit. When the owner of the cargo and the carrier are separate corporations, marine cargo insurance typically compensates the owner of cargo for losses sustained  from fire, shipwreck, etc., but excludes losses that can be recovered from the carrier or the carrier's insurance. Many marine insurance underwriters will include "time element" coverage in such policies, which extends the indemnity to cover loss of profit and other business expenses attributable to the delay caused by a covered loss.

Pollution Insurance which consists of first-party coverage for contamination of insured property either by external or on-site sources. Coverage for liability to third parties arising from contamination of air, water, or land due to the sudden and accidental release of hazardous materials from the insured site. The policy usually covers the costs of cleanup and may include coverage for releases from underground storage tanks. Intentional acts are specifically excluded.