Asset Protection Resources

Asset protection is now more popular than ever, as a buzz phrase at least.  It's very easy for estate planning or even corporate or small business attorneys to bill themselves as asset protection lawyers and tack on "asset protection" as one of the services they offer.  However, the reality is…

Many classes of assets are considered exempt assets.  Exempt assets are simply those assets that a creditor cannot to "look to" in satisfaction of a judgment.  For example, if Tom wins a lawsuit against Jerry, Tom is now a judgment creditor and Jerry is a debtor.  In other words, Jerry…

The beauty of the asset protection strategies that we implement at Lodmell & Lodmell is that they allow easy access to money that is otherwise unavailable to creditors and plaintiffs.  The way we do this is through a particular type of trust called a grantor trust.  A grantor trust is…

Any good asset protection lawyer knows that bullet proof planning requires a number of layers.  We use tools ranging from limited liability companies to family limited partnerships and offshore asset protection trusts.  One strategy that we've discussed a lot is the use of limited liability companies to shield individuals from…

"Lawsuits are war.  It's as simple as that and they all begin the same way; a declaration of war: the complaint."  ~John Grisham, A Civil Action If you've never been served with a complaint--a notification that you're being sued--then let me save you the experience.  It's not good.  It will…

Asset protection lawyers have been taking advantage of limited partnerships for hundreds of years.  Limited partnerships originated from a time when European shipping businesses began to operate globally.  The goal in creating limited partnerships was to allow multiple individuals or businesses to invest in a venture without being liable for…

The typical offshore trusts that we create for our clients are tax neutral.  That simply means our asset protection structures do one thing very, very well . . . they protect your assets . . . but they are not intended to be used as tax shelters or as a…

A client posed an interesting California asset protection question the other day: "If my business gets sued, why can't I just shut it down and open an new business doing the same thing?"  This client is really thinking about asset protection planning.  Her point is pretty straightforward.  The business she…