In a recent survey of millionaire baby boomers (by U.S. Trust), less than half of the respondents said it was important to leave money to their children when they die.  That is according to an article in last Friday’s Los Angeles Times by Walter Hamilton.

But here is an important reminder:  asset protection planning (and estate planning) is still critical even if you are unconcerned about what your children will inherit from you.

• First of all, most of us do not know when we will die.  So even if you plan to spend down your children’s inheritance, you can never be sure that you will do so.  You still need a Will, a Trust and/or other estate planning documents to cover distribution of assets on your death.
• You also need to focus on asset protection planning in order to protect assets during your lifetime.
• So even if you have decided that you are not very concerned about what your children will inherit — you should still have some sort of an estate plan.  And you should certainly have a meaningful asset protection plan to be sure your assets are as well protected from creditors as they lawfully can be.