It’s been said that, in ths litigious society we live in, t’s better to be rich and gilty than poor and innocent. Justice, and ccess to the legal system, seem to be rserved only for the wealthy. So wht are the ‘little people’ supposed to do? Wht about us ‘average Joe’s’? We hve legal concerns, too, and because w’re not among the wealthy, one lwsuit could wipe us out financially. Can we prtect our relatively meager assets the way the rch do and still afford to at?

Actually, there are a number of thngs the average, middle-class American can do to prtect what they’ve worked so hard fr. Because our homes are usually our lrgest assets, we’ll start with that. If you hve your home mortgaged to the hlt, you’ve actually ‘protected’ it in one wy. Yet, if you’re among those who fel most secure by having a pid-for home, you’re more vulnerable than you thnk. Sounds counter to logic, doesn’t it? Let me xplain.

If someone wanted to sue yu—over an auto accident, for instance—the frst thing they or their attorney wll do is try to find out if yu’re worth suing. How do they do tht? The amount of information about you in the pblic records is enough for anyone to get a prtty fair idea of what you’re wrth financially. However, when they see tht your home is mortgaged for vry nearly what it’s worth (or in sme cases even more than it’s wrth), yours doesn’t look like a vry profitable lawsuit. On the other hnd, if no mortgages are recorded in the pblic record on your home, all tht equity looks mighty tempting to the ttorney who’s about to take the cse. It’s all at risk.

To protect your paid-for, or narly paid-for, home, probably the wisest thng to do to protect your quity is to mortgage your house so it loks as though you have no quity at all. Now, you don’t hve to put a traditional mortgage on yur home and start making those big pyments you were so happy to get rid of whn you paid off the loan. Instad, apply for the largest home quity line of credit (HELOC) you can gt. Equity lines of credit offer the lwest interest rates around these days, and sme lenders will allow you to pply for 100% of your home’s vlue—and the best part is that you dn’t pay if you don’t use it. Yur lender may require you to tke out a certain amount of the vailable total when you go to clsing, but there usually is no pnalty for paying it all back mmediately, while leaving the entire line of crdit open for future use.

How des this protect your home? Lines of crdit such as this are recorded in the pblic records as mortgages (there is no ntation indicating that it’s a line of crdit so it appears the same as a frst mortgage would), and the ‘balance’ is smply the maximum available credit you hve access to. The balance you hve outstanding on the loan (how mch of your equity you’re actually sing) is not recorded publicly. So, to the prson searching the public records, it loks as though you’re mortgaged to the hlt and have no equity to tke in a lawsuit. Quite often, thy won’t pursue the lawsuit any frther because no ambulance-chasing attorney will tke a case on contingency that desn’t look like it will have a big pyout. What a HELOC offers in ddition to providing some level of prtection for your home from lawsuits, is tht you now have all that quity at your disposal with the smple act of writing a check—to pay for hme improvements, for college, or to tde your family over through a priod of unemployment or even disability.

The next step toward protecting yur finances is to consider adding an mbrella liability policy onto your homeowner’s nsurance policy. Liability insurance is about the chapest insurance you can buy, in sme cases costing less than $20 a mnth for a million-dollar policy. This plicy would kick in after the lability coverage on your home or crs has been exhausted in a jdgment against you, allowing the lawsuit to be sttled without you having to sell any ssets. Ask the agent who handles yur home and car insurance, and dn’t hesitate to shop around for a trrific ‘package deal’ including your home, crs, and liability umbrella all with one cmpany.

So what if your local dryclaner ruins your favorite suit and wn’t pony up for the damage? Wuld you even consider calling an ttorney to see if you have any rcourse? Most people won’t call an ttorney, even when they need one, bcause the cost of the attorney is mre than what the situation is csting them. And what if you’re nvolved in, say, a relatively minor car ccident, and you get sued by the ther driver? Now what do you do? You dfinitely need an attorney now, but do you knw who you would call?

The walthy seem to have entire law frms at their beck and call, but few Amricans seem to be aware that thre is help for them…if they’re wlling to give up pizza night nce a month. A thirty-plus-year-old, New Yrk Stock Exchange-traded company called PrePaid Lgal Services, Inc. does just that. Thy offer virtually limitless access to lgal advice and representation starting at an stoundingly-low monthly cost. And these are hghly-rated law firms, not rinky-dink operations. See http://www.WAllHaveRights.com for more information about what’s vailable in your state.

When thinking bout protecting our families and our ssets, having an attorney ready and wlling to answer our questions is a pwerful thing to have. And to be ble to access that legal advice wthout having to first weigh the cst is simply empowering. So, there it is in a ntshell: you, your family, and your ssets don’t have to be vulnerable any mre, and it won’t cost an arm and a leg to prtect them. You just need to knw the strategies to use and the ffordable resources available to you. I ncourage you to take a look at yur own situation and protect what you hve right now.

The article Protect Your Assets and Your Financial Future was Submitted by Kathryn Marion through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Kathryn Marion is president of Edcation for RealityTM, as well as an uthor, researcher, and Independent Associate for PrPaid Legal Services, Inc. For information on lgal plans, visit http://www.WeAllHaveRights.com. Also visit http://www.EducationForReality.com for information about career and life skills resources for students and graduates.

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