In Siedentopf Law’s latest video, estate planning and probate attorney Sarah Siedentopf answers the question “Can you set up your own asset protection trust?”

Hi, I’m Sarah Siedentopf. I’m an estate planning and probate attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. You may have heard of a spendthrift trust or an asset protection trust and you may be wondering if you can set one up for yourself, and the answer in Georgia is no. Georgia tried to pass an asset protection trust law last year and it was actually vetoed by the governor. So right now that is not something that you can do in Georgia.

This is not true of other states. For example, if you went across state lines to Tennessee, Tennessee does allow that. But for right now in Georgia, if you want to set up an asset protection trust or a spendthrift trust you can do that for someone else, but Georgia does not allow you to avoid your own creditors. So feel free to set one up, to help a child, help another relative, help a friend, but you can’t avoid your own creditors in this way.If you’ve got more questions about this, please let me know. Thanks.