Separate Ownership From Beneficial Use and Control

When someone considers a lawsuit, one practical question is whether there will be assets to collect if they win. A claim against someone with little to collect may be less attractive to pursue. This is the starting point of the first concept.

Asset protection planning can separate you from direct ownership of an asset while keeping a way for you to benefit from it. Beneficial use means you can receive a benefit under the plan. Control means having the power to make certain decisions. Direct ownership means holding the asset in your own name.

These roles do not always have to belong to the same person. The goal is to use a legal structure that assigns them in a useful way. You may be able to use or manage assets without holding them in the same way you did before.

The exact rights you keep matter. This is not a promise that you can keep unlimited control and make every asset unreachable. It is a concept about separating roles through a properly designed plan.

How can you separate those roles? The next concept introduces a tool built for that purpose: a trust.