Asset Protection

Estate Planning for Dallas Physicians—Guarding Against Malpractice Creditors

Published on: August 29, 2025 | By Thomas W. McCulloch

Estate Planning for Dallas Physicians—Guarding Against Malpractice Creditors

Your calling serves patients, but it also exposes wealth to risk. Even with strong insurance, a single claim, business dispute, or personal guarantee can threaten savings. A Dallas-ready estate plan builds layers of protection while keeping life simple for your family.

Start With the Protections Texas Already Gives You

Texas homestead laws shield your primary residence within acreage limits. Qualified retirement plans and many IRAs receive powerful statutory protection. Max out those vehicles, keep beneficiary forms current, and store statements where your spouse or executor can find them. Simple steps form a sturdy first line of defense.

Separate Your Professional and Personal Worlds

Operate through the right entity—a professional association (PA) or professional LLC (PLLC). Keep clean books, separate accounts, and minutes for major decisions. Sign contracts as an officer of the entity, not in your personal capacity, and avoid commingling. For investments, consider a limited partnership with an LLC as general partner to add charging-order protection and limit creditor leverage.

Buy Insurance Like a Realist, Not an Optimist

Carry malpractice limits that match your specialty’s risk. Add an umbrella policy for non-practice liability, and price tail coverage when changing jobs or retiring so past care remains covered. Insurance buys time for your asset structure to work and supplies defense dollars when emotions run high.

Title Assets With Purpose and Clarity

In a second marriage, use marital agreements to sort community from separate property. A community-property survivorship agreement can move certain accounts directly to your spouse, while a trust can preserve other assets for children. Avoid casual personal guarantees on practice loans; one signature can pull protected assets into a creditor’s reach.

Build Protective Trusts the Right Way

If you want to help family during life, consider irrevocable trusts that keep assets outside your estate yet accessible for them—such as a spousal lifetime access trust (SLAT) paired with life insurance in an irrevocable life-insurance trust (ILIT). Make gifts in ordinary times, not after a claim appears. Courts scrutinize timing; steady, well-documented planning carries credibility.

Safeguard the Practice and Income Stream

Create or update a buy-sell agreement with partners so a disability or death does not freeze distributions or voting. Fund that agreement with life and disability coverage to provide liquidity. Confirm that accounts receivable, equipment leases, and EHR contracts have succession language so billing and operations continue smoothly during transitions.

Prepare for Incapacity and Protect Privacy

Sign medical and financial powers of attorney so a trusted agent can manage accounts, apply for benefits, and authorize care if you cannot. Add explicit digital-asset permissions for EHR portals, billing software, and cloud storage. Inventory passwords and 2FA backups in a secure vault your agent can access. Speed matters when payroll and schedules depend on your systems.

Keep Your Plan Current

Review everything every two years or after major changes in compensation, insurance markets, or practice ownership. Update beneficiary forms, confirm entity filings with the Secretary of State, and refresh your list of accounts and policies. Small maintenance keeps the shield strong.

Put a durable, physician-smart plan around your family and your practice. To design a protection strategy that balances simplicity and strength, call McCulloch & Miller, PLLC at (713) 903-7879 and start building your safety net today.

Asset Protection: Who Are You Protecting Your Assets From?

Published on: October 27, 2022 | By David W. Miller

Individuals and families with up-to-date and comprehensive estate plans may think their work is done in protecting their assets. But many types of assets could use additional protection before death or incapacitation, which requires a more holistic strategy than many estate plans cover. And some individuals may need asset protection plans more than others, while everyone should have an estate plan in place. Asset protection strategies can protect your wealth from seizure or other losses. Asset protection and estate plans often coexist, but both sides need individual consideration and attention.

Why Do I Need Protection?

You may think your assets are relatively secure, but this can be a mistake. Even the most financially stable of individuals may fall into circumstances that lead to creditors at the door. And high net worth individuals or individuals in high-risk professions such as doctors and lawyers may be targets for lawsuits and scam artists, which can result in high damages awards or unwitting asset transfers without strategies in place to mitigate these losses and shield assets from these claims. Spouses and in-laws can also serve as surprising asset predators, especially if marriages dissolve and tensions become hostile, even if planning for that unfortunate possibility seems difficult to imagine. Finally, hefty taxes can be imposed on certain asset types by the government, which can be protected by certain trusts and a good tax strategy.

Who Can Benefit from a Houston Asset Protection Plan?

Published on: August 18, 2020 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

It takes confidence and courage to start a business. In fact, many believe that the best business owners are those who are comfortable with some level of risk. However, there are acceptable risks and unacceptable risks, and any business owner knows that avoiding unnecessary risk is the cornerstone of running a successful business. Because of this, many business owners take the proactive step of creating a Houston asset protection plan.

What is an Asset Protection Plan?

An asset protection plan is a strategy that business owners can use to protect their assets in the event they get sued or end up going through a divorce. The reasons why a business owner decides to create an asset protection plan vary. For some, it is the fact that their business operates in a field that sees a significant amount of litigation. Examples include certain types of doctors, who may face a medical malpractice lawsuit. For others, it is the fear that they will be targeted for litigation based on their substantial assets. Whatever the reason, an asset protection plan can help preserve what a business owner has worked so hard to create.

Can You Get Donated Property Back?

Published on: February 3, 2020 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

“The heirs of a philanthropist who donated a historic theater to the City of Miami want it back.”

A dissolved nonprofit controlled by the heirs of Maurice Gusman sued the city of Miami recently, in an attempt to regain control of the Olympia Theater and restore it to its former glory. They claim city officials have squandered the theater built in 1926 and violated the terms of an agreement with their grandfather, Maurice Gusman.

The heirs and the dissolved corporation’s directors are Maurice Gusman’s grandchildren: Bruce Gusman, Robert Gusman and Jackie Gusman Thayer.

Blended Family Finances Require Extra Special Care

Published on: January 29, 2020 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Blended families are almost the new normal in America. A Pew Research Center analysis shows that as many as 40% of all new marriages include at least one person who had been married before. For another comparison, in 1960, 13% of all married adults had been married before, compared to 23% today.

In a blended family, one or both spouses have at least one child from a previous marriage or relationship. Financial and legal challenges are more complicated, as are the family dynamics between parents, step-parents, siblings and step-siblings.

CNBC’s recent article, “4 ways to help blended families navigate finances,” reports that a staggering 63% of women who remarry come into blended families, with 50% of those involving stepchildren who live with the new couple, according to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research.

Planning for Medical Expenses During Retirement

Published on: November 18, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

The unknown about spending in retirement is not just whether it will be higher or lower, but when during the course of retirement, you’ll be spending more or less. If you downsize, housing costs will decrease, but if you travel more, recreational spending will rise.

According to a recent article from Investopedia, “How to Plan for Medical Expenses in Retirement,” healthcare is likely to be the biggest expense in retirement. A survey from Fidelity Investments found that a 65-year-old newly retired couple should budget about $285,000 for medical expenses in retirement. It is better to have the money set aside than to be surprised by the cost. That number also does not include long-term care. Depending on where you live, those costs can range from $18,720 for adult day care services to $100,375 for a private room in a nursing home.

Despite saving and preparing for retirement their entire lives, many retirees aren't mentally or financially prepared for these types of expenses. A survey by HSA Bank found that 67% of adults 65 and older thought that they’d need less than $100,000 for healthcare. However, Fidelity calculated that males 65 and older will need $133,000—and females, $147,000—to pay for healthcare in retirement.

How Doctors Can Protect Assets

Published on: October 23, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Any high-income professional must expect that at some point there will be a bad outcome and a lawsuit against them and/or their practice. Doctors, in particular, need to be sure that they have the correct protection in place.

Whether you are a surgeon, chiropractor or cardiologist, at some point in time, some patient is going to commence a lawsuit alleging malpractice, warns Physician Sense in the article “The Do’s and Don’ts of Asset Protection for Doctors.”

With a good chance of being involved in a malpractice suit at some point in your career, the time to think about protecting your assets is right now, before a patient sues. After the fact, this might look like a way to avoid a creditor. Many courts will cancel those actions.

Next Steps When the Diagnosis is Alzheimer’s

Published on: September 25, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

We hope to enjoy out golden years, relaxing after decades of working and raising children. However, as we age, the likelihood of experiencing health issue increase. That includes Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

Learning that a loved one has Alzheimer’s or other diseases that require a great deal of health care is devastating to the individual and their families. The progressive nature of these diseases means that while the person doesn’t need intensive health care yet, eventually they will. According to an article from Newsmax, “5 Insurance Steps After Alzheimer's Strikes Loved One,” the planning for care needs to start immediately.

Alzheimer’s Disease International predicts that 44 million individuals worldwide have Alzheimer’s or a similar form of dementia, and 25% of those living with it never receive a diagnosis. Healthcare, including assisted living, memory care and in-home care is expensive. Health insurance is an important component of managing the ongoing expenses of living with Alzheimer’s.

What’s the Difference Between a Prenup and a Postnup?

Published on: June 3, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Whether you and your spouse have a pre or post nuptial agreement, they are a good way to make divorce or death a little less overwhelming.

If you are wealthy, expect an inheritance or have been married before and have children from a prior marriage, you may want to consider a prenup or a postnup as a useful planning tool. An article from Investopedia, “Prenup vs. Postnup: How Are They Different?” explains why these documents are important.

A prenuptial, made before the marriage occurs, or a postnuptial, made after you’ve said your wedding vows, serves to protect both parties from the emotions (and some of the drama), if the marriage should hit the skids or when one of the couple dies.

Should You Make Lifetime Gifts While Living?

Published on: May 22, 2019 | By McCulloch & Miller, PLLC

Some people give generously all year long, supporting local nonprofits and taking care of their family members. If that’s you, perhaps it’s time to consider taking a more strategic approach to lifetime giving.

Not everyone gives because they are looking to minimize their taxes. If you’ve reached the age and stage where you have accumulated more than enough wealth to retire on, you may enjoy being generous and seeing the impact your gifts can have on the lives of those you love, or those who are less fortunate.

WMUR’s recent article, “Money Matters: Lifetime non-charitable giving,” explains that lifetime giving means you dictate who gets your property. Remember, if you die without a will, the intestacy laws of the state will dictate who gets what. With a will, you can decide how you want your property distributed after your death. However, it’s true that even with a will, you won’t really know how the property is distributed, because a beneficiary could disclaim an inheritance. With lifetime giving, you have more control over how your assets are distributed.