You work your whole life to build up assets you can have for the future; a nest egg for the golden years, or something to pass down to the kids or grandkids. You scrimp and save and invest to have something to show for that day. Now, imagine it all disappearing in one fell swoop. It happens a lot more than you think, but stopping to think can prevent it from happening to you. Ann-Margaret Carrozza is an asset protection attorney and host of “The Laws of Your Money with Ann-Margaret Carrozza,” heard every Sunday at 10:30am on WOR. She appeared on 710 WOR’s Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program to discuss the “four-second action” that can undo a lifetime of work and success.
Carrozza explained the biggest and most common red flag she sees when people are too eager to get the deal done: “Signing a document with grave consequences that you didn’t read or you didn’t understand, and you let pressure to sign it quickly and now you are on the hook, and no amount of clever lawyering can get you out of it sometimes… and the prime example that I see is folks putting their home in their kids’ names… Do a trust; that’s going to protect it from a nursing home and it will avoid probate and taxes for the kids later.”
Carrazzo also used the case of Teresa Giudice, the Real Wives of New Jersey celebrity, to highlight another mistake- trusting your spouse to read everything before you sign the papers: “She signed a mortgage application stating that the income was super high, and then she signed that year’s tax return stating that the income was super low. So, there’s no such thing anymore as an ‘innocent spouse’ protection. Everyone is expected to know what they’re signing.”
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