Are Retirement Funds Protected from Lawsuits?

[Anonymous]

I have close to $1 million net worth, which, according to my research, would make it prudent for me to get umbrella insurance.

However, I have $300,000 car insurance for liability for an accident (which is where my risk would be), leaving $700,000 exposed. The vast majority of my savings is in retirement accounts. Is it true this can't be touched? If so, I don't think I need umbrella insurance.

[Anonymous]

You need 1mm on your car and a 1mm umbrella. That level Umbrella costs about $250 a year at most. Why wouldn't you?

[Anonymous]

Btw whether anyone could or couldn't attach retirement savings is moot. You can be hit with a judgment of any amount regardless of your ability to pay. They can garnish future wages.

[Anonymous]

IRAs aren't generally protected.

[Anonymous]

No, they aren't safe. My retirement accounts were on the table as net worth when I had to file bankruptcy to get rid of an unfair judgement.

[Anonymous]

The answer depends on what kinds of accounts your retirement funds are in, and what state law applies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need 1mm on your car and a 1mm umbrella. That level Umbrella costs about $250 a year at most. Why wouldn't you?

If I get an $1 million umbrella insurance, why would I need an additional $1M on my car? That would protect me for a total of $2M, whenI only have $1M (technically, slightly under.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Btw whether anyone could or couldn't attach retirement savings is moot. You can be hit with a judgment of any amount regardless of your ability to pay. They can garnish future wages.

While this is technically true, as a practical matter no one is going to go through the cost of litigating to get at assets beyond the insurance policy limits unless they have a basis to believe they'll actually be able to recover the judgment. If OP is retired so there are no wages to garnish and OP doesn't have significant accounts to which a judgment could attach, an injured party is unlikely to pursue OP beyond policy limits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer depends on what kinds of accounts your retirement funds are in, and what state law applies.

They are an individual IRA, a rollover IRA, and a ROTH IRA, in Virginia. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Btw whether anyone could or couldn't attach retirement savings is moot. You can be hit with a judgment of any amount regardless of your ability to pay. They can garnish future wages.

While this is technically true, as a practical matter no one is going to go through the cost of litigating to get at assets beyond the insurance policy limits unless they have a basis to believe they'll actually be able to recover the judgment. If OP is retired so there are no wages to garnish and OP doesn't have significant accounts to which a judgment could attach, an injured party is unlikely to pursue OP beyond policy limits.

I'm a few years from retirement. Sounds as if it might be worthwhile for an umbrella policy for the near future to protect wage garnishment and then drop it (assuming IRAs are protected).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, they aren't safe. My retirement accounts were on the table as net worth when I had to file bankruptcy to get rid of an unfair judgement.

I'm very sorry to hear that. Please don't tell me you lost the IRA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need 1mm on your car and a 1mm umbrella. That level Umbrella costs about $250 a year at most. Why wouldn't you?

If I get an $1 million umbrella insurance, why would I need an additional $1M on my car? That would protect me for a total of $2M, whenI only have $1M (technically, slightly under.)

The cist of that amount if insurance is insignificant. We live in a litigious society. Do what you want, but personally I sleep a lot better at. Ought knowing a single accident wouldn't wipe me out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, they aren't safe. My retirement accounts were on the table as net worth when I had to file bankruptcy to get rid of an unfair judgement.

When did this happen? It looks like Virginia may have changed their law in 2007 to provide heightened protection to non-ERISA accounts.

The difficulty in getting a clear answer to this question is that the statutory scheme is difficult to tease out (and I'm not going to take the time to do it as a pro bono effort), and a lot of the analysis you'll find on the internet focuses on bankruptcy laws, even when they refer generally to "creditors," and judgment creditors may be treated differently from bankruptcy creditors depending on context and state law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, they aren't safe. My retirement accounts were on the table as net worth when I had to file bankruptcy to get rid of an unfair judgement.

I'm very sorry to hear that. Please don't tell me you lost the IRA?

Thanks. No, fortunately, the bankruptcy was approved. I also had a lot of medical debt and the court was satisfied. I did lose about $5k thru garnishment before filing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, they aren't safe. My retirement accounts were on the table as net worth when I had to file bankruptcy to get rid of an unfair judgement.

I'm very sorry to hear that. Please don't tell me you lost the IRA?

Thanks. No, fortunately, the bankruptcy was approved. I also had a lot of medical debt and the court was satisfied. I did lose about $5k thru garnishment before filing.

I'm glad to hear that. $5K is nothing in the scheme of things, really. But you ARE saying that your retirement accounts were protected in bankruotcy, yes?