Divorcing and have half of retirement & stocks coming

[Maggie H.]

My husband has always been very secretive about the two items above, but I believe he has a self directed IRA and most of his retirement is in stocks. He use to talk about changing his stocks to cash when he had an inkling of a downturn. It worked quite well for him, especially in 2008! I'm expecting to receive a pretty good sized lump sum along with a nice alimony check every month. Should I transfer the lump sum to a not yet created LLC, so I can begin investing in RE and not have to pay large penalties and tax bills? Or is there another strategy? Any help would be appreciated. I hope to speak to an accountant, but not sure how to find an investor friendly one.