As the beleaguered residents of New York City and New Jersey continue to put their lives back together, asset protection lawyer Hillel L. Presser reminds Americans—it could happen to you!

“We’ve seen some bizarre, destructive weather in recent years—nearly 1700 tornadoes in 2011, extreme drought this year and Hurricane Sandy followed up with a Nor’easter, just to name a few,” says Presser, author of Financial Self-Defense: How to Protect Everything You Own…From Everyone…Everytime (Revised Edition). “And we can expect more of the same. AccuWeather is forecasting major snowstorms from North Carolina to New York City in January and February; severe storms across the South, with the possibility of tornadoes and flash flooding; and a growing drought in the Northwest that carries the potential for more wildfires.”

Presser says that people should take steps now, before a crisis, to make sure they are protected.
“If your tree falls on your neighbor’s house in a storm, will you be prepared for a lawsuit?” he asks. “Is your important paperwork in a safe place where you’ll be able to access it if your home floods, like so many people in New York and New Jersey?”

Presser offers these tips for safeguarding assets now:

• Protect your assets from lawsuits. One way to do this is by protectively titling nonexempt assets. Exempt assets vary by state and may include such things as your primary residence and personal furniture. Make sure to check your specific state exemptions—those items generally should not need any extra protection. However, nonexempt assets, such as bank accounts and recreational vehicles, should be titled in the names of corporations, limited partnerships, domestic trusts, and other entities.

• Have adequate insurance. In fact, overinsure your assets! Those include—but are not limited to—your car, home, and other valuables. You never know what you could lose in a natural disaster.

• Diversify your assets geographically. This is extremely important in the case of natural disasters. Use international asset protection to help disperse your valuables into some non-U.S.-based jurisdictions.

• Safeguard your paperwork. Collect and copy all paperwork and have it accessible in the event you must evacuate. Give the second copy to a trusted financial advisor, attorney, or trustee for safekeeping. Take a video of every room and keep an itemized asset list with your paperwork. That way, you will have the documentation to present to your insurance company when filing a claim. Photos and videos, as well as receipts and documents showing the value of those assets, will help.

• Safeguard your business. Create a plan of action to implement in the event of a natural disaster, and practice implementing it. Hurricane Sandy illustrated the problems business owners faced in trying to resume operations during widespread power outages and equipment destroyed by floodwaters. Do you have a generator? Can you utilize cloud computing? Keep a record of all payrolls and business documents remotely so that if you do not have access to your business dwelling, you can still access copies of all important business documentation.

• Make sure your estate plan is up to date. Everyone should have an updated estate plan, including minor children. Choose one trustworthy person to be the executor of your estate. This person should have a hard copy of your financial account information and list of your assets, including intellectual property and passwords that you can access in the event of a natural disaster.