We live in a litigious society. If you own a business, own rental property or practice a profession, you have a one in three chance of being sued this next year. Aside from real estate, large cash balances in your bank account or a healthy investment portfolio will leave predatory lawyers foaming at the mouth.
So how do you protect your cash, stocks and mutual funds?
As in any effective asset protection plans, privacy or more specifically, financial privacy is the key.
The entire lit
igation process is predicated on the plaintiff's ability to collect. It costs a great deal of money in attorney?s fees, court costs, etc. to pursue a court case. If they don't think you have assets to take, chances are they won't be interested in suing you in the first place. In other words, do you own anything of value that would make it worth their time and effort to sue you?
Cash in bank accounts, stocks or mutual funds in a brokerage account are relatively easy to reach, giving the plaint
iff's attorney the green light to file their claim.
So how do you not own these assets but still maintain control over them? The answer is by setting up a private corporation to be the owner of the assets while you anonymously maintain control of them. Of the many different legal entities available, private corporations are ideally suited for this purpose.
Why corporations?
Under the law, a corporation is an artificial "person", completely separate from you. Because it is an indepe
ndent entity, a corporation's liabilities and taxes are separate from the people who own and operate it. This is the reason why almost all successful people choose to incorporate. It permits you to keep you and your liabilities separate from your assets.
However, it is only in a state like Nevada or an offshore jurisdiction such as the Bahamas that you can set up a corporation so that, while you own and control your corporation, your identity and ownership can remain completely private. Since the o
wnership of the corporation cannot be traced to you, your enemies will not be able to take your assets within your corporation.
Once a private corporation is formed, a bank and/or brokerage account can be established for the corporation and your cash and investment holdings can then be transferred out of your name to the corporate account.
You will still retain your personal checking account to pay for your day-to-day activities but the bulk of your assets is now out of your name and will not s
how up if an attorney conducts an asset search on you. This strategy will not only lower your lawsuit worthy profile, it will also dwarf any collection efforts if you lose a future lawsuit.
Carlos Lee, MBA, is the senior consultant for Asset Protection Consulting Group.
Visit Asset Protection C
onsulting Group to learn more about how to bulletproof your assets against future lawsuits.
