Understanding Basic Concepts Of An Asset Protection Plan

Fundamentals of your asset protection plan

Lets start off with the principle. Its a pretty straight forward concept. Basically “you do not need to own an asset to have beneficial control.” A perfect example of this that neighbor that we can all relate to who has a very nice boat and says, “hey go and use it anytime you want.” That means that you can use the boat, you can enjoy it, but you don’t own it.

If something happens to that boat its not your problem. So if you get sued and someone says, “hey I see you on that boat every weekend. I think we are going to sue you for that also,” you can say “well its not my boat, its my neighbors.” The idea that you don’t have to own something to use it, is a very old legal concept.

A Trust is precisely this legal concept. It’s been used by family, individuals, and by companies since the inception of the legal system. A trust is a key part of what asset protection is. It’s one of the most powerful concepts in the law because it’s the distinction between beneficial use, ownership, and control.

So is it possible to create a separation of ownership from beneficial use and control of your personal assets?

The example about your neighbor with the boat is easy because it’s not your boat. You were just using it. What if it was your boat floating in your backyard and you were using it? Is there a way to separate ownership of that boat from beneficial use and control over it? The answer is yes and this is really what the world of asset protection is.

So how do we do it?

We deal with three tools and I have put pictures up from our asset protection video on the home page to remind you of what these tools represent and how they work together to form your asset protection plan.

1. The briefcase represents the Limited Liability Company in your plan.
2. The safe represents the Asset Management Limited Partnership. The safe is where the briefcase goes along with cash, liquid assets, stocks, bonds etc.
3. The last piece to the puzzle is the The Bridge Trust ™, which  is a representation of the boat. The boat is where we put the safe.  As you can notice the boat has sharks circling around it and the boat is getting ready to be sailed off to a safer place.

The key is to fund these plans after you have them in place.

If you have any questions regarding Limited Liability Company, Asset Management Limited Partnership, The Bridge Trust ™ or any of the other key concepts discussed in this blog, please call today.