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An asset protection plan has two goals and three fundamental principles
Goals:
1.
To make the enforcement of judgments against
protected assets difficult, and
2.
To give the owner of protected assets a level of
comfort with the placement of their assets.
Fundamental Principles:
1. What you don’t own, no one can take from you.
2. Legal judgments from the U.S. are not recognized in foreign jurisdictions without litigation.
WHO SHOULD HAVE ASSET PROTECTION?
Since there are huge numbers of lawsuits, almost anyone can benefit from an asset protection plan. The specific people who really need one are
Wealthy Entrepreneurs Property Owners
Unknown toxic substance found on your property. Injured persons on your property. To shield against unlimited joint and several liability for environmental clean up.
Manufacturers of Products Physicians and Other Professionals Elderly with Significant Assets Married or Unmarried Couples where one party holds significant assets
These are just some of the individuals who may benefit from asset protection planning, which seeks to protect assets from the claims of potential creditors.
WHY USE AN OFFSHORE PLAN?
To understand why offshore planning has become so popular, one need only look at all the lawsuits that are filed on an annual basis. There are many uncertainties in our domestic legal system. If you don’t believe that take a look at the facts:
WHAT MAKES AN OFFSHORE PLAN SO GOOD?
The benefits of offshore trusts extend beyond asset protection. For instance, it can assist the orderly transfer of wealth between generations and the client’s need for economic diversification. An offshore trust can be used to manage foreign assets, foreign businesses, foreign real estate, and make a great surrogate to a prenuptial agreement during premarital planning.
NO FOREIGN JURISDICTION AUTOMATICALLY RECOGNIZES A COURT JUDGEMENT FROM THE UNITED STATES.
Most foreign jurisdictions will not recognize a court judgment from another country. The financial livelihood of many of these developing financial centers is dependent upon how much protection their laws provide the foreign investor. Recent court cases show that even U.S. governmental agencies were denied access to funds held in a foreign trust. Obviously trying to take on the federal government is ignorant and hopeless. There are many more facts to these cases too numerous to bore you with here.
DOES MY MONEY LEAVE THE U.S.?
In
a word, yes. Some of your money will leave the U.S.
over time as there are minimum deposit requirements.
Note, the offshore account should never be in the
individual name of the client if possible.
You also must exercise Attention to detail in minimizing the exposure to creditors from reporting the account to the IRS on the required Form 90-22.1 (note, even though the protected client is not treated as the owner of the assets from a debtor-creditor law point of view, he or she is still treated as the owner of the accounts for tax purposes if a typical asset protection trust (often a grantor trust) is utilized). There are several techniques to minimize the risk from the filing of the 90-22.1, although this risk is minimal if the trust is set up long before trouble appears.
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST ME?
We ask you to call or send an email for a quote
Family Limited Partnerships
Provides a little protection at a budget. Primarily used to offset estate taxes in your estate plan.
Plan Diagram (Click Here)
NOTE: We highly recommend that you integrate your asset protection plan with your preexisting estate plan. If you do not have an estate plan and would like assistance with that please contact our office.
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