We Live In The World’s Most Litigious Country
Asset Protection as a field of law has developed since the 1980’s from a little- known specialty to a highly publicized area of legal practice. This growth was created by a legal system that has devolved over several decades to create a hyper-litigious society that is long on victimization and short on accountability.
America has more lawyers, files more lawsuits than any other country in the world, and the numbers keep growing every year. According to Towers Watson, the cost of civil justice in America has surpassed $300 billion a year.
Our legal system has come to resemble a perverse redistribution-of-wealth scheme that encourages plaintiffs, who risk nothing, to sue anyone who may appear to have the ability to pay. Civil litigation has become big business with hard working professionals, business owners and employers becoming an attractive source of profit.
Asset Protection planning gives you the option to legally defend yourself from the frivolous lawsuits that are often focused your way. Unfortunately you have a huge target on your back for many reasons. Click on a profession to see common reasons:
Healthcare Professionals
- You are in a high net-worth, and high liability profession
- You have high visibility, traceability, and or collectability as a member of the community
- Your extensive government Compliance Requirements, from HIPAA to wage & hour, which are often difficult to meet or even to be aware of
- Your position as an Employer with Employees as employee related lawsuits are becoming a huge issue
- Your ownership in a business and liability generating assets
- Your investments in liability generating assets such as rental real estate
- Your children and their activities (especially driving)
- Your service on foundations or boards, whether corporate or non-profit
All Employers and Small Business Owners
- Your position as an Employer with Employees as employee related lawsuits are becoming a huge issue
- Your extensive government Compliance Requirements which are often difficult to meet or even to be aware of
- You have high visibility, traceability, and or collectability as a member of the community
- Your ownership in a business and liability generating assets
- Your investments in liability generating assets such as rental real estate
- Your children and their activities (especially driving)
- Your service on foundations or boards, whether corporate or non-profit
Artists and Entertainers
- Your Celebrity status and the media portraying lavish lifestyles and excessive spending
- Perceptions that you hold millions in liquid wealth
- Assumptions that you earn huge sums of money in a very short period of time
- Your ownership of a business and employment of others
- The public nature of your compensation
- Your service on foundations or boards, whether non-profit or corporate
Professional Athlete
- Your Celebrity status and the media portraying lavish lifestyles and excessive spending
- Perceptions that you hold millions in liquid wealth
- Assumptions that you earn huge sums of money in a very short period of time
- Your ownership of a business and employment of others
- The public nature of your compensation
- Your service on foundations or boards, whether non-profit or corporate
Any one of these factors alone, makes you a target for lawsuits, but the combination of several, accurate or not, creates a need for proactive planning to ensure your assets are protected from predators.
Estate Planning is Critical, but Won’t Protect Your Assets
The Revocable Living Trust (RLT) is a wonderful estate-planning tool that can avoid probate, minimize estate taxes, and provide a legacy for your family, loved-ones and beneficiaries. The RLT does not, however, shelter you from any sort of lawsuit exposure during your lifetime. Asset Protection Planning, in contrast, does offer such protection, and will complement your estate planning.
In addition to the obvious exposures created by wealth, high-income, and a high-risk profession, you also expose yourself to every-day risks like, driving a car, owning real estate, or having children that drive.
Basic Risk Management is Critical, but Insufficient
You may have done a good job already with basic level risk management measures like insurance or even creating a business entity for yourself or some of your assets. These are important first steps, but they fall short of having an effective legal shield that covers the gaps which insurance and a ‘corporate veil’ leave open.
We can help you cover these gaps with comprehensive legal defenses you can think of as “net-worth insurance” that places your personal assets beyond the reach of future creditors.
“Net-Worth Insurance” removes the economic incentive for a plaintiff to sue, except for maybe up to the limits of your insurance coverage. Why pursue a long and expensive court proceeding if the assets cannot be reached?
Procrastination is Not an Option
Asset Protection is difficult, if not impossible, after a lawsuit has started. Attempting to take action after-the-fact puts you at risk of “fraudulent conveyance”, opening the door for a court to take back the assets you tried to protect. The time to act is now when waters are calm. Hoping that you won’t get sued is not a plan, it is just wishful thinking.
Lodmell & Lodmell’s asset protection services begin with a no-obligation, confidential review of your financial resources, including your risk level, assets classifications, and personal objectives. Taking control of your financial, estate, and asset protection planning is critical to your peace of mind.
5 Reasons Why the Bridge Trust® is Better than a Foreign Asset Protection Trust