AGGRESSIVE REPRESENTATION
At Chris Pritt Law, we provide quality legal services in a wide variety of practice areas. These include:
Divorce
Child Custody
Child Support
Paternity
Wills & Trusts
Adoptions
Medical Powers of Attorney
Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
Estate Disputes
Prenuptial Agreements
Durable Powers of Attorney
Property Deeds
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for all the care and concern you have shown me, and for working tirelessly to ensure that the law worked in our favor."
EM. G
Asset Protection Attorney
Services
Shield Your Assets from Lawsuits, Creditors, and Nursing Home Costs
A lawsuit, a nursing home bill, or a creditor claim can put decades of savings and family property at risk. An asset protection attorney places your home, land, and savings under legal structures that keep them out of creditors' reach before those threats arrive. West Virginia offers stronger tools for this than most states, including a trust you can still draw income from while it shields what's inside it.
The tools work. Timing decides whether they hold up. Families across Kanawha County come to Chris Pritt Law while things are calm, because that's the only window an asset protection attorney has to act.
The Plan: Three Steps to Protecting What You Own
Step 1: Find What's Exposed
This is the part people get wrong. If you move assets to dodge a creditor who's already after you—or one you can see coming—a court can undo that move. This is covered by W. Va. Code § 40-1A. Once a lawsuit is filed or a nursing home starts billing you, it's usually too late. A lawyer for asset protection can only act while the door is still open.
Step 2: Match Each Asset to the Right Structure
An irrevocable trust shields certain assets. A correctly drafted deed protects others. A qualified self-settled spendthrift trust lets you protect assets while still receiving distributions from them. The right tool depends on what the asset is, how liquid it needs to remain, and whether you need continued access to it or income from it.
Step 3: Connect It to Your Estate Plan
Protecting an asset today means little if it doesn't reach the right person later. We build the protection and the estate plan side by side, using tools like your trust and durable power of attorney, so both goals are met with one coordinated plan.
The Legal Tools Behind West Virginia Asset Protection
West Virginia is one of the few states that allows a self-settled spendthrift trust—a trust where you, as the person who created it, can still receive distributions while the assets inside stay shielded from most creditor claims. This is set out under West Virginia Code § 44D-5-503a, addressing qualified self-settled spendthrift trusts specifically.
What Makes a Trust "Qualified" Under West Virginia Law
The statute doesn't hand this protection to just any trust you draft yourself. To qualify, the trust needs a West Virginia-based qualified trustee involved in its administration, a spendthrift provision restraining both voluntary and involuntary transfers of your interest, and a signed affidavit, executed at the time of the transfer, attesting to things like your solvency and your intent. You also have to give up the right to veto the trustee's distribution decisions. Skip any of these requirements and the trust may not get the statute's protection at all.
The Four-Year Window a Creditor Has to Challenge It
West Virginia law gives a creditor whose claim already existed at the time of the transfer up to four years from the date of that transfer to bring an action to unwind it. That's a real, defined window, not an indefinite one, which is part of why getting the trust funded early, well before any claim exists, matters so much. Once that four-year period runs on a given transfer with no claim filed, that transfer is on much firmer ground.
Irrevocable Trusts and Spendthrift Provisions for Beneficiaries
Irrevocable trusts. Once assets move into an irrevocable trust, you give up direct ownership, putting them out of reach of most future creditors.
Spendthrift provisions for beneficiaries. A spendthrift clause keeps an inheritance safe from a beneficiary's creditors, a divorce settlement, or their own future mistakes.
Protecting Land, Mineral Rights, and Royalty Interests
Much of what Kanawha County families want to protect isn't liquid savings—it's the house, the acreage, and often mineral or royalty interests tied to land held for generations. These interests can go into a trust for the benefit of your children or grandchildren, keeping them out of reach of creditors and outside the delays of probate. Because mineral and royalty interests often produce ongoing income, how that income is distributed, and to whom, is usually as important to plan for as the underlying asset itself.
Why Timing Decides Everything
This is the part people get wrong. If you move assets to dodge a creditor who's already after you—or one you can see coming—a court can undo that move. This is covered by W. Va. Code § 40-1A. Once a lawsuit is filed or a nursing home starts billing you, it's usually too late. A lawyer for asset protection can only act while the door is still open.
The "Badges of Fraud" Courts Look For
West Virginia's fraudulent transfer rules, found in W. Va. Code Chapter 40, Article 1A, allow a creditor to unwind a transfer made with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud, or one made without receiving reasonably equivalent value while the transferor was insolvent or headed toward insolvency.
Courts don't need a signed confession of intent to reach that conclusion. They look at circumstantial factors sometimes called "badges of fraud": transfers to family members, transfers of most or all of someone's assets, transfers made shortly after a threat or incident arises, and transfers where the person kept using or benefiting from the asset despite supposedly giving it away.
What Happens If a Transfer Gets Unwound
Once a lawsuit is filed or a nursing home bill starts accumulating, the window for that specific claim has usually closed. If a creditor does succeed in unwinding a transfer into a self-settled spendthrift trust, West Virginia law requires that the transfer be charged first with the full costs and attorney's fees the trustee incurred defending it, before anything else happens. That's a meaningful deterrent against long-shot challenges, but it's not a substitute for getting the timing right in the first place.
An asset protection attorney can only build durable protection while no claim is yet in sight, which is why early planning matters more than any other single decision in this process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a revocable living trust protect my assets from creditors?
No. Because you retain control over a revocable living trust, the law still treats those assets as yours, and creditors can generally reach them. Real protection requires an irrevocable structure.
Can I really protect assets in West Virginia while still benefiting from them?
Yes. West Virginia is one of the few states that permits a qualified self-settled spendthrift trust, letting you shield assets from creditors while still receiving distributions from the trust.
How does Medicaid factor into asset protection planning?
Medicaid applies a 60-month look-back period on gifts and transfers made before you apply for coverage. Transfers made inside that window can delay eligibility, which is why planning years in advance matters more than planning at the point you need care.
Can mineral rights or royalty interests be protected?
Yes. Mineral and royalty interests can be placed into a trust, keeping them within the family and shielded from creditor claims.
Is it too late to protect assets once someone has already filed a claim against me?
For assets tied to that specific claim, usually yes. Transfers made to get ahead of a known or foreseeable creditor can be reversed by a court. Protection has to be in place before a claim arises.
Meet Chris Pritt, Our Founding Attorney
Chris Pritt founded his Charleston, West Virginia law practice with a simple goal: to make estate planning and elder law feel approachable, not intimidating. He believes that protecting a family's future starts with genuinely listening — understanding not just what's in someone's estate, but what matters most to them and the people they love.
Outside the office, Chris lives what he practices. He and his wife, Kelly, are raising their two sons, Jackson and Owen, right here in Charleston, and that same commitment to family shapes how he approaches every client relationship. When he's not at the firm, you'll find him cheering on football with Kelly and the boys or simply enjoying time together at home. Clients who sit down with Chris often say the same thing: he treats their family's future like it's his own.
Get In Touch With Pritt Law Today
Set up the right protection now, and the home, land, and savings you've spent a lifetime building stay with the people you intend to have them. Wait until a claim is filed, and the law may not let you fix it. Chris Pritt Law is located in downtown Charleston, a short walk from the Kanawha County Courthouse, serving families throughout Kanawha, Putnam, Lincoln, and Boone counties. The earlier you bring in an asset protection attorney, the more options remain to protect what's yours.
If you're ready to protect what you've built, contact Chris Pritt Law to schedule a consultation.
1012 Kanawha Blvd E 5th Floor
Charleston, West Virginia, 25301
Phone: (304) 720‐4412
Email: [email protected]
OFFICE HOURS
Monday-Friday: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday & Sunday: Closed
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