Asset Protection Services
Bob and Sharon live in rural Arkansas. Bob is in the construction business. He has not been in a lawsuit but is very concerned that one could strike any time. They have three rental homes, about $250,000 in cash and a personal residence. For privacy of ownership, we established four land trusts; one their home and three additional land trusts, one for each rental property. One rental property has $175,000 equity and the other two have $50,000 each. So, for lawsuit protection we established one LLC to own the land trust that holds the property with the most equity. We established another LLC to hold the other two land trusts. Again, the land trusts are for privacy of ownership. The LLC's are for lawsuit protection if there is liability on the property and asset protection in the event of a personal lawsuit.
Choosing a service depends on your needs and comfort level. The fundamental principle behind any type of asset protection is to create the appearance of a poor lawsuit target Ð that is the first step. This is done through financial privacy using a number of methods. Most assets that are tied to your name and social security number are fair game, and typically easy to find. Privately owning property and giving your property the appearance of little or no equity is a wise defensive maneuver. Most legal opponents will be motivated by one thing, your money - otherwise lawsuits are just a very expensive way of upholding principle. When you are targeted, any reputable attorney will perform an asset search to ensure that there is a payoff at the end of the suit. After you are served with a lawsuit, you have two common choices: settle out of court or hire legal representation to defend you, costing you thousands of dollars every month. If your asset search only shows a home that is mortgaged 100% and a vehicle that is leased through your bank, combined with relatively low bank account balances, the chances of a decision to pursue you drop considerably. You may have millions of dollars tucked away in asset protection devices. But your legal opponent would likely not know this. By structuring your affairs properly you give the impression that there wouldn't be a huge pay off since everything you own, it appears, belongs to your bank. Then, if they do pursue the suit, because you have secured your resources in the proper legal tools, your courtroom enemy would end up with a mouthful of sand.
Choosing an Asset Protection Service
Depending on your specific needs, the asset protection service could consist of a number of different domestic and/or offshore corporate, LLC and trusts structures and as well as private bank accounts. These legal tools will vary depending upon the level of protection you need.
In most instances, you control the legal entity that, technically, owns your assets. Therefore you "control everything" but "own nothing" except for the entities themselves. The basic principle of "not owning" the assets is the first layer of protection. When assets are titled to a legal entity, other than you, then, depending on the selected entity, they can be protected from a being taken after a judgment has been rendered against you.
These legal structures can range from a simple LLC or LP in the state that you live, another state or a network of offshore entities and trusts. The determining factor is the level of protection you are seeking and the value and type of assets you are protecting, as well as your comfort level.
Nathan is a fairly successful businessman. He is divorced. His ex-spouse is continuously on the prowl for increased spousal support. He wants to grow his real estate portfolio but he does not want to wave the red flag in front of the bull. So, we set up land trusts for each property to give him privacy of ownership of each property. Then, we establish LLCs to own each land trust for true asset protection and lawsuit protection. We set up a Nevada LLC to hold his cash. When his ex-spouse's attorney prowls for additional assets to seize their search continuously comes up short.
So, here you can learn about the asset protection services that will reduce the chances of losing your wealth. This is accomplished by making you a smaller target and by putting your property out of reach of creditors and judgments. By reducing the size of the "target", you shrink the size of your estate so that you are no longer the direct owner of valuable assets. You still have access to the assets, but they are owned inside of private legal tools so that your assets remain accessible to you.
The simplest form of the asset protection service transfers your assets: capital, investments, homes, cars, etc. into a separate legal entity. For instance, if you have a home you want to protect, you may place your home into a land trust for privacy of ownership. You may place a friendly lien against your home payable to your own domestic or offshore LLC. You may refinance your home and place the proceeds into an LLC or offshore trust beyond the reach of creditors, for example. These types of strategies help reduce the probability of you being targeted for a lawsuit.
Timing is critical. If you wait to modify your asset profile after you have been served, you can be assured that your assets were likely known. If you enter a court battle and it turns out that you no longer own those assets because you gave them all to a family member, you could be in serious trouble for committing fraud. Transferring assets in attempt to defraud a creditor is a crime and you would discover first hand, the defection of fraudulent conveyance. If you haven't been served with a lawsuit, you have all of the options available to choose the right service for you. On the other hand if you are posed with a legal battle or have been served, your options are limited to some very careful measures that can be taken in these cases. Please be aware that only a highly qualified legal expert should offer guidance here. Asset Protection Planners has a complete financial and legal team for any situation and has helped thousands of people protect their hard earned wealth.
In many cases the American justice system can be used as an extortion tool. You can be faced immediately with settling for points on the dollar, or paying for expensive legal representation. Either case is equally unattractive. No matter what the outcome is, you lose. Why? Because your assets were available to a legal predator who knows how to leverage the legal system to their advantage and, thereby, separate you from your assets. Unfortunately this is the real world truth and the best way to prevent this from happening to you is to educate yourself on your options and have a hands-on professional team work with you to develop a service that is right for you.
Asset Protection Service Coverage
Choosing services is a complicated task and requires that assessments be made to factor all of the variables and what level of control you are comfortable with. There are so many choices of legal structures and jurisdictions that can give you anywhere from a fair amount of protection through domestic statutes, all the way to bulletproof financial privacy and protection. Choosing your level of service should be done with an experience and qualified professional who is representing your best interests.
Our highly-skilled professionals offer a full range of services and strategies that involve a number of entities and structures. Our recommended plans include both domestic US based, offshore and a combination of the two. Each asset protection service is designed for our clients' specific needs and scenario.