Partner
Paul P. Marchese
A trusted counselor to North Shore families for more than three decades, Paul guides clients through estate planning, trusts, and probate with the patience and precision that complex family wealth demands.
Read full bioEstate Planning · Asset Protection Attorney Great Neck
Great Neck Asset Protection for High-Net-Worth Families
Marchese & Maynard, LLP structures asset protection plans for Great Neck professionals, business owners, and families facing creditor exposure. Our attorneys design entity architectures, spendthrift provisions, and strategies informed by New York State Bar membership and decades of Nassau County practice.
What to Expect
How Does the Best Asset Protection Strategy Safeguard Your Wealth?
Most clients arrive after a lawsuit threat surfaces or a business partner dispute escalates. By then, transfer timing becomes the central problem. We map existing exposure, identify potentially exempt assets, and build forward-looking structures that season before claims materialize.
The best strategy is the one that doesn't look like a strategy when a judge reviews the timeline. Transfers made six months before litigation carry a neon sign; structures built more than four years earlier during routine planning fall outside the standard statutory look-back period under New York's Uniform Voidable Transactions Act. The difference is whether you started when the weather was calm.
- Exposure Inventory: Professional liability, rental properties, and business interests cataloged by risk tier.
- Exemption Audit: ERISA plans, homestead limits, and tenancy by the entirety holdings reviewed for compliance.
- Entity Architecture: LLC operating agreements, FLP structures, and charging order protections drafted for New York.
- Transfer Timing: Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (UVTA) look-back periods and seasoning horizons mapped to help protect against voidable conveyance claims.
The Difference
Core Principles to Shield Against Creditors and Lawsuits
You open the mail and see a summons naming you personally, not just your business. That moment clarifies why entity separation and titling matter. We segregate high-risk assets into separate LLCs, confirm beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, and layer umbrella coverage calibrated to net worth.
Great Neck's median home value is substantial, and New York State's homestead exemption protects a statutory amount per owner in Nassau County. The gap can leave substantial equity exposed unless you hold title as tenants by the entirety or fund an irrevocable structure before trouble starts.
- LLC Segregation: Each rental property or operating business is placed in a distinct limited liability company.
- Spendthrift Provisions: Third-party discretionary language is designed to help prevent creditors from reaching beneficiary distributions in many cases.
- Tenancy by the Entirety: Married couples holding real estate jointly may gain some protection against individual creditor claims in New York.
- Insurance Layering: Umbrella policies stacked above primary liability limits to absorb claims before personal assets.
How It Works
Trusted Methods for Securing Personal and Business Wealth
Clients often ask whether forming an LLC alone solves the problem. It doesn't. New York courts limit a judgment creditor's remedy against a debtor's membership interest in multi-member LLCs to a charging order, though single-member LLCs face significantly higher risks of a creditor reaching the underlying assets. We draft operating agreements with transfer restrictions, add independent managers, and coordinate UCC-1 filings where collateral pledges apply.
Single-member LLCs sound protective until a creditor seeks to bypass the charging order remedy entirely. The physician's equity evaporated because the structure had one member and no business purpose a judge found credible. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
- Operating Agreements: Transfer restrictions, manager authority, and dissolution triggers tailored to creditor scenarios.
- Partnership Agreements: Family limited partnerships with general and limited partner roles, valuation discounts for gift planning.
- Deed Preparation: Retitling real estate into entities or tenancy forms, recorded with the Nassau County Clerk.
- Beneficiary Designations: IRA, 401(k), and life insurance forms aligned with entity or discretionary beneficiary structures.
When Plans Change
Medicaid Planning and Long-Term Care Asset Strategies
Great Neck's aging population and high cost of nursing care drive demand for Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts. We draft irrevocable instruments designed to remove the residence and non-qualified accounts from the Medicaid estate, potentially preserving assets for heirs while helping the grantor qualify for institutional care benefits after the applicable look-back period.
A common mistake is waiting until a health crisis to fund the trust. By then, the look-back clock hasn't run, and the family may face a spend-down or penalty period for institutional care. Pre-need planning requires predicting care needs years in advance, which many clients find uncomfortable to discuss.
- MAPT Drafting: Irrevocable trust holding home and investments, with independent trustee and spendthrift clause.
- Transfer Timing: Funding completed at least five years before anticipated long-term care need to help clear look-back.
- Caregiver Agreements: Personal services contracts documenting family care, converting assets into exempt compensation where appropriate.
Our Partners
Counsel rooted in Manhasset, trusted across the North Shore.
Two partners. One standard of care. Every plan is drafted, reviewed, and signed under their direct guidance.
Partner
Robin S. Maynard
Robin brings decades of experience and a client-centered approach to elder law, Medicaid planning, and guardianship matters, advocating for families during the most consequential transitions of their lives.
Read full bioClient Stories
Families who can finally rest easy.
★★★★★4.7 Google rating
Verified Google Reviews
Read all 27+ on Google“Robin and Paul walked our family through a trust restructure after my father's stroke. They explained every clause in plain language and the Nassau County Surrogate filings closed without a single delay.”
“We finally have a real estate plan, not a binder collecting dust. The team made sure our co-op shares were actually transferred into the trust. Worth every minute of the consultation.”
“After two other attorneys gave us conflicting Medicaid advice, Marchese and Maynard laid out the lookback timeline on paper and built a plan that protected our home. Calm, precise, and patient.”
“Probate could have been a nightmare. They handled the executor paperwork, creditor notices, and a contested distribution without us ever having to argue with family. Genuine pros.”
“Paul drafted our wills, healthcare proxies, and powers of attorney in a single afternoon, and the bank accepted the POA without a single follow up call. That alone tells you they know what they are doing.”
“Trusted, local, and responsive. Robin took my call on a Friday afternoon when I was panicking about my mother's nursing home admission. By Monday we had a clear plan and the right documents in motion.”
Frequently Asked
Questions, answered plainly.
What common mistake do business owners make when setting up asset protection structures?
Most owners layer entities without updating beneficiary designations or retitling assets, leaving vulnerable property exposed despite the structure. Protection depends on proper transfer documentation and ongoing compliance with formalities.
The honest answer is that most people build the structure but never move the assets into it. A limited partnership or LLC sitting empty offers no protection when a judgment creditor attaches property still titled in your personal name. We've seen professionals lose rental properties because the deed was never transferred into the holding entity after formation.
How does Marchese & Maynard, LLP structure asset protection for clients who own both real estate and operating businesses in Great Neck?
Combining real estate and operating businesses requires separate legal entities to isolate liability exposure, with ownership layered through holding structures. The approach depends on existing debt covenants, transfer tax implications, and whether rental income crosses state lines.
One thing that catches business owners off guard is the way real estate and active operations create opposite liability vectors. Marchese & Maynard, LLP typically separates these assets into distinct limited liability companies so a lawsuit against the business cannot reach the building, and a slip-and-fall at the property cannot touch operating cash flow.
Which types of assets are hardest to protect without formal legal structures in place?
Real estate equity and business operating accounts are typically the most exposed assets without formal structures, since they're easily identified through public records and discovery processes. Protection difficulty can increase when ownership is held in personal names rather than entities.
Personal real estate and liquid business accounts face the highest vulnerability when held without formal legal structures, primarily because they're both easily discovered and straightforward to attach through judgment enforcement.
Assets That Demand Structural Protection Before Trouble Starts:
- Real Property Equity: Single-member ownership creates a direct path for judgment liens and forced sales, especially in high-equity situations where creditors see immediate recovery potential.
- Operating Business Accounts: Funds held in accounts without entity separation can be frozen or levied within days of a judgment, potentially halting operations until resolution.
- Personally Titled Investment Portfolios: Brokerage accounts in individual names are subject to turnover orders that force liquidation, often at inopportune market moments that compound financial damage.
- Intellectual Property Rights: Patents, trademarks, and copyrights held personally become attachable assets that creditors can force into sale or licensing arrangements to satisfy judgments.
What types of clients does Marchese & Maynard, LLP typically work with for asset protection planning in Great Neck?
Marchese & Maynard, LLP serves business owners, medical professionals, real estate investors, and high-net-worth individuals facing creditor exposure. Protection effectiveness depends on asset complexity and whether structures are established before claims arise.
Marchese & Maynard, LLP works with professionals who have accumulated wealth that creditors could reach through malpractice suits, contract disputes, or business liabilities. Medical practitioners, real estate investors holding multiple properties, and family business owners tend to benefit most from formal structures like LLCs and trusts.
Why do offshore trusts get flagged more often than domestic structures in asset protection planning?
Offshore trusts face heightened IRS scrutiny due to reporting complexity and historical abuse patterns, while domestic structures like LLCs and FLPs may receive less attention when formed correctly. Compliance burden and perceived intent drive the difference.
The honest answer is that offshore structures trigger automatic reporting thresholds that domestic alternatives simply don't. Any foreign trust with a U.S. grantor or beneficiary typically requires Form 3520 and Form 3520-A filings, and missing these deadlines invites substantial penalties. Domestic options like limited partnerships or irrevocable trusts formed in states with strong creditor protection laws achieve similar shielding without crossing international reporting lines.
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Areas We Serve
Serving Great Neck and Surrounding Areas
Marchese & Maynard, LLP serves professionals and business owners throughout Great Neck and the surrounding Nassau County communities. Our team regularly works with clients in Manhasset, Port Washington, and Roslyn. We offer flexible scheduling, including evening consultations, to accommodate working families and business owners managing complex asset portfolios.
We accommodate scheduling across the North Shore, with consultations available at your office or our firm location.
Service area coverage
- Our attorneys regularly meet clients in Kings Point and Sands Point for estate and business planning.
- Clients near the Great Neck Plaza commercial corridor and Northern Boulevard access our services easily.
- Full coverage across the Nassau County North Shore and western Queens border areas.
Free Consultation
Protect what you've built. Start with one conversation.
Tell us a little about your situation, and we will reach out within one business day.
Your initial meeting is structured to complete a full asset inventory and goals discovery in a single, unhurried session.
(516) 869-1111
Office1305 Franklin Avenue, Manhasset, NY
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