Yes. You're over-concerned.We are retired and cannot afford to lose our non-replenishable portfolio. The argument for an irrevocable trust is that it may offer protection in a rare event. A rare event includes injuring/disabling jay-walking or cycling 20-30 year olds who are CEOs of startups and have potential of 100-million future earnings. Again, this is rare but not impossible (we often hear about those hit-and-runs in Boston area). And irrevocable trusts are good in theory, but remain to be tested in real court cases.
$4M is an extraordinary amount of coverage. Unless you lead a particularly reckless life or perform surgery on multimillionaires, the chances are infinitesimal that you'd ever have a liability claim exceed that.
A plaintiff would never chance a guaranteed $4M for a potential $10M. Juries are unpredictable.
Even the McDonald's coffee case was greatly reduced. They were egregious -- the plaintiff asked for help covering medical bills. McDonald's rebuffed her. At trial, it turned out that they intentionally kept the coffee at something like 190F.
Am I over-concerned? Well, I wish I did not know about this stuff. My wife is oblivious and she is a better sleeper.
You're probably more likely to be struck by lightning than be involved in a lawsuit where your $4M umbrella would be insufficient.
Statistics: Posted by exodusNH — Thu Jan 09, 2025 5:14 pm — Replies 26 — Views 949