You have worked hard for your money and want to make sure it is available for you and your family. You can take steps during your lifetime, using trusts, family limited partnerships, irrevocable life insurance trusts, and other estate planning tools, to protect your assets from inheritance taxes, an overly aggressive creditor, catastrophic medical bills, or even an ex-spouse. There is usually a trade off—the stronger the level of asset protection, the more control you give up over your assets and potentially the more expensive and complicated the asset protection devise becomes.  Asset protection can be as simple as giving your children annual exclusion gifts each year to using offshore trusts in the Cook Islands.  Asset protection can mean many different things depending on the circumstances, but the general rule, is that once the liability has arisen, it may be too late to effectively protect your assets.  The safest course is to take precautionary steps now, before the liability arises and while the "coast is clear".