It might be said that the purpose of asset protection planning is to take some chips off the table when times are good, and make the rest of the chips difficult for creditors to get at when times are bad.
The first part is often easy so long as there are not existing creditors, and typically consists of gifting assets into trusts for heirs, and converting non-exempt assets such as cash into exempt assets such as personal residences, life insurance and annuities, retirement plans, etc., to the extent those things are protected by the exemption laws of particular states. Indeed, the challenge here is not so much creditor issues, as tax issues arising from the gifts or transfers, or leaving assets within the client’s taxable estate.