In a recent installment, he cites the Arline Grant Case, which he points out has been touted by asset protection attorneys as a success story.  The facts are that Mr. Grant established 2 separate trusts, one for himself and another for his wife Arline, in 2 separate offshore asset protection jurisdictions. He then proceeded to do 2 things.

1. Stiff the IRS for $36 Million bucks,
2. and then Die.

Firstly, stiffing the IRS for $36 Million should already tell you that this is not the kind of case either side should be citing as precedent.  The IRS is no usual creditor and $36 Million is no usual amount.  (And it should be note that I was not one of the people who trumpeted it as a ‘success’).   Much like the Anderson case, having the U.S federal government as the Plaintiff and having amounts in the tens of millions of dollars are simply bad facts that make bad law.

Nevertheless these are the facts and through the U.S. Court’s the IRS has aggressively pursued Arline to the point where Arline will be held in contempt if the Trustee does transfer any assets into the United States to anyone.  Score one for the IRS.

But this post is not really about the Arline Grant case.  While it is interesting, it is hardly a representative model for how I see real people with similar plans use them.  I have been a part of creating thousands of asset protection plans.  And thus have thousands of reference points from my own clients to comment on how these plans are really used. There are 3 ways my clients use their planning:

Way #1

The first, and by far most important, use of the planning has little to do with  academic arguments of technical correctness or backward looking judgments.  It is more simple and more important. My clients use their planning to reduce stress caused by fear of the legal system.

While this may sound intangible, the benefits are very real.  My clients consistently report to me that they feel more free to engage in their work, and their life because they do not feel like they are risking everything they have worked a lifetime for over a mistake or a bad outcome.  They have a lower level of overall stress, are happier to go to work, and produce more as a direct result.

It is a very similar feeling to the difference between driving your car without insurance, and knowing that you have insurance.  This simple knowledge directly affects how enjoyable that experience really is.

Way #2

While analyzing a case like Arline Grant is interesting, the planning is far more likely to be “used” in a much different way.  I have had hundreds of calls from clients saying “Doug I need to use my plan”.  What this means most often is that the existence of the plan itself is used to:

1. Discourage or deter the attacker from further action, and/or
2. Remove the Assets from the reach of the attacker, and/or
3. Dramatically strengthen the negotiating position of my client, and/or
4. Reducing the massive stress which the uncertainty of a lawsuit brings, allowing my clients to function during the 2-5 years an average case goes on.

Notice I did not say. Thwart a court from pursing the assets, such as Mrs. Grant has attempted to do.  Why?  Because in my experience with thousands of cases, I have had a total of 0.0% (Zero) that have made it through the above 3 hurdles.

I am not saying it is not possible and won’t happen, it happened to Arline (albeit in very extreme circumstances). What I am saying is that arguing over issues that have a less than 0.01% chance of occurring is missing the forest for the trees.  And concluding that Asset Protection Planning “doesn’t work” is not just throwing the “baby” but the whole family out with the bath water!

Way #3

The third way in which my clients use their planning may be the most important of all.  They use it as a catalyst to get their financial and legal house in order.  Most people DO NOT want to address their estate or death planning.  It makes us all face our mortality and this is easy to push away. We just don’t want to think about it.

However, with Asset Protection there is a more pressing motivation.  They DO want to keep what they have and continue to enjoy it.  I know this is true, because 80% of the clients who come to me have not yet done even a simple estate plan.  And yet they are calling me about Asset Protection.

What beginning their Asset Protection Planning does is allow them to address the estate planning issues within the context of the asset protection.  I often talk to local estate planning counsel of my clients who are very thankful that their clients are finally “getting this done.”  And it doesn’t end there, the process has them looking at their insurance, investments, business structures, real estate.  Basically, everything they have gets reviewed.  All because the client is motivated to protect their assets!

One More Way!

And if that is not enough there is a final way in which my clients tell me they have paid for their planning over and over again.  THEY SAVE MORE.  Because they feel protected, AND they have a dedicated place in which to save, they tend to focus more clearly, and put away more money.  It’s like putting a Piggy Bank in your kids room instead of a “change drawer”  The Piggy Bank will always end up with more money in it.  And over 20 or 30 years of working life that is a lot of change!

These are the real world ways in which my clients use their asset protection every day of the week, every week of the year, and every year they have.

So what about Mrs. Arline Grant?  Has her offshore planning failed?  Ask yourself.  The IRS still doesn’t have their money.  The U.S. Courts haven’t been able to compel Arline to bring anything back, and Arline is still alive and free.

My prediction is that, just like in the Anderson case, somewhere down the line a “settlement” will be reached, both giving the IRS some money and leaving some for the family. I seriously doubt this would be the case if the planning had not been offshore.

Remember, It’s Your Money. Act Like It!

The Arline Grant Case is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

First Major Issue – Jurisdiction

Second Major Issue – Ownership & Control

What Jurisdiction does Work?

Why the SPA Trust Fails the Asset Protection Test

Second, It requires you to give up the control of your assets, as well as all beneficial interest in them, in favor of a weak Power of Appointment.  As you can see from the website which I quote here (note that you are NOT a beneficiary of the Trust):

The Trust is an irrevocable trust that includes the following features:  1. The settlor is not a beneficiary and no distributions can be made to or for the settlor’s benefit. 2.         The settlor retains a “special power of appointment” which allows the settlor to change the trustees, the beneficiaries, or the terms of the trust at any time (except that the assets cannot be distributed to or for the settlor’s benefit).  In addition, the settlor can appoint assets to any other person at any time.

Basically they are taking a very commonplace tool called Special Power of Appointment Trust, used in the estate planning context, and are attempting to re-brand it as an asset protection tool.  It was not designed as such and is not well-suited for the purpose.

The SPA (Special Power of Appointment) Trust is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

Inside this controversial report, you will learn the well-guarded and unspoken secrets of the biggest racket in America—The Legal System!  You will be Shocked and aghast when you learn:

• How the Plaintiffs’ attorneys have ‘rewritten the rules’ over the past 30 years to make it easier, and more profitable, for them to sue you.
•  How Lawsuits REALLY WORK, and how lawyers use the ‘no loser pays’ system as a tool for LEGAL EXTORTION!
•  Which assets you have are ALREADY protected and which ones are not, and what you can do today to increase your protection with no expenses!
•  How we moved from a system where ‘contingent fees’ were immoral and illegal for lawyers to use, to one in which they are virtually the only way plaintiffs’ attorneys now work!
•  How clever attorneys removed the prohibition against ‘attorney advertising’ and created an industry of TV, Phonebook, Internet, and Billboard lawyers designed to stir up conflict—just for profit!
•  How lawyers have changed their own ethical rules to allow the use of sleazy tactics and frivolous lawsuits!
•  What Nevada Corporations really are and why you want to STAY AWAY!
•  How Court Attitudes and Rules of Procedures have been modified by attorneys and courts to make it easier to sue, easier to harass, and harder to get a bogus lawsuit thrown out!
•  Why all these changes make anyone with even a modest level of assets a SITTING DUCK for almost any plaintiff’s attorney!
•  Why if you are a Doctor you are a ‘triple-whammy’ target!
•  How, if you are an employer, your employees are now your #1 risk!
•  How ONE simple policy you can implement in your office can VIRTUALLY ELIMINATE employee lawsuits!
•  What ‘Asset Protection’ really means, and why 95% of all ‘Asset Protection’ planning you hear about or find on the Internet doesn’t work, and may even get you into BIG TROUBLE!
•  Why numbered bank accounts and secrecy as asset protection tools Don’t Work!
•  What you CAN do that does work to protect 100% of your assets!

I hope you get as much out of this as so many people already have.

In Service,

Douglass S. Lodmell, J.D., LL.M.

Section 1.  The Law of Fear!

Let me ask you a question.  Have you ever wondered why it feels like you need to consult a lawyer before talking to the parents of your children’s friends about why their kid came home with a bruise from your house?  Do you notice how you feel when someone slips and falls, or even bumps their arm in your home or office building?  Or, if you own a business or have employees, why even a loose comment or risqué joke around the office now makes you cringe with fear?

Why is that?  Why is it that even normal minor accidents or casual conversations can trigger a deep sense of fear and insecurity in you?  What do you attribute this to?  Why do you think that is?

I bet until now you thought that it was normal to feel guilty or at fault if something happens around you that maybe you could or should have prevented.  That it was natural to have a visceral fear of consequences for actions and results that you don’t really control.

Listen!  That is not normal and you were not born feeling that way!  But I know that you do feel that way, and that this feeling has been growing bigger not getting smaller.  As you read through this report, you’re going to find out why some things trigger an almost instant fear in you.  Why when someone threatens to call a lawyer or SUE you it is almost guaranteed to make your body immediately go cold and clammy.  You’ll discover why when you try to ‘talk yourself out of’ irrational thoughts and fears they just get worse and grow bigger.  Why when you try to ignore certain areas that seem to hold the most risk or uncertainty they just keep coming up in your life over and over.

See, you know what it feels like to be confident and secure in what you do.  You know when you have done the very best that you can and that after your job is finished it is truly out of your hands.  You know how good that feels and I want to tell you something – THAT IS THE WAY YOU SHOULD FEEL!

So does it make sense to you that once you have finished your part, and done the very best you can, that you should then have FEAR of a particular outcome?  Or that you should be in a constant state of fear in certain situations or environments?  Have you ever asked yourself if that makes any sense at all?  Does it make any sense to you?

NO-IT DOES NOT!  Just because you have learned to feel that way doesn’t mean that it makes sense.  It also doesn’t mean that you have to stay in that place of fear!

By the way, when you hear what I am about to tell you, when you hear these previously hidden, dark secrets of the legal system, you must understand that it applies to everyone.  It doesn’t matter what you are told by the press, or by lawyers in the system – the entire system is corrupt and run by one single over-riding issue, controlled by one group.  In fact, when you hear the indisputable FACTS about how our legal system works and what part YOU play in it (and I absolutely challenge anyone to dispute these facts) you are likely to go through the classic stages of grief.  You will be tempted to first DENY that this is true and want to put this report down because it is too scary or unbelievable.  Then you will likely get ANGRY at what I am saying because there is simply too much damning evidence, and I GUARANTEE that you will SEE IT by reading this report!  Finally you are likely to ACCEPT what I am saying because you will see for yourself the source of the oppressive fear you had not previously noticed.  But keep reading, because I promise if you read to the end I will reveal the SOLUTION for you that puts the choice and control back into your hands!

Let’s face it.  We have all learned to take on a sense of guilt if anything goes wrong in our own lives AND in the lives of those around us.  In fact, this guilt has been around far longer that the problems with our legal system.  It is rooted deep in our country’s identity.  And while this underlying feeling of guilt is in itself a major issue, it is not what I am here to talk about.  What I am here to talk about is how a small group of lawyers and judges has taken that sense of guilt and used it against the very people they are here to serve to create the biggest money making scheme in history and in the process have turned our legal system into a sham!

Just like Cold War Russia or North Korea of today, we are now ruled by the Law of Fear!  What this law says is that you better not take any risks, hurt anyone or even be around when something goes wrong in someone’s life, because there is an army of lawyers that will be there to serve the victims of your negligence and find JUSTICE!   And since this is America, justice is measured in terms of COLD, HARD CASH – so you will just PAY!  (Incidentally, this is also creating a country of victims who are learning that it is easier to not take responsibility for what happens in their lives and to simply point the finger at someone else – but that is another story!)

This my friends, is what has happened to the legal system in America and it is shameful.  A few self-appointed rulers telling the rest of us when we are guilty of some action that we don’t control and didn’t create and how much we should pay for getting it wrong.  Oh, and by the way, those same self-appointed rulers have also decided to take a cut of the action (a big cut!) for their services – makes sense right?

WRONG!  It’s B.S. if you really want to know what it is, and unless you know what I am about to tell you then you have absolutely no say whatsoever about when someone comes in and tells you where to send the check. (More accurately when they simply come in and take the money right out of your account!)

This is NOT how our legal system began and it is absolutely NOT what the founding fathers expected it to develop into.  It is a perversion of the concept of the Rule of Law.  A perversion which began about 40 years ago, and until now only a very few have had the insight to understand what is really happening or had the guts to take on the interests that rule this new system and challenge the corruption of it.  That means to this day there is still no one being held accountable for the destruction of the very rule of law that protects the freedoms we all value so highly and, until now, no one has exposed what is REALLY going on!

Why is that?  And for that matter, why have the few people that have raised the flag before this point not been heard, or been silenced so quickly?  Good questions.

And I have the answer.  But, I have to admit, in all candor, that my answer makes me feel a bit foolish.  It makes me sad because as an insider to the system I just didn’t want to admit that it was happening.  The truth is that I went through the same stages of grief that I mentioned above and that I got stuck at DENIAL.  You see, I have a very deep faith in this country and in the people who make it great.  I just couldn’t believe it was as bad as it is. Even though I KNEW that there was a small group of predator lawyers out there and I saw them feeding on the victim mentality of people who had been unfortunate enough to get sick or have an accident, or lost their job or whatever difficult parts of life have come their way.  I still didn’t want to believe that I could not TRUST the legal system to see when there was a real problem vs. when someone was just being opportunistic.

I also had intimate access to the system, even for a lawyer.  I had a unique opportunity that only one in a thousand attorneys have.  I clerked for Federal District Court Justice, Jack B. Weinstein, in the Eastern District of New York, one of the countries most respected and honored FEDERAL judges!  I seriously understand our system and believed in it!

However, I now see that even with my insider knowledge and access to the system, and even though I had spoken with thousands of clients and seen countless examples of how broken the system was, I still held on to the belief that ‘it wasn’t really that bad.’  And it is this denial that keeps the corruption going!

NOT ANYMORE!  There is no more sleep in my eyes and as you read I am going to tell you exactly what finally made me realize how fundamentally broken our legal system really is.  How the interests are far more deeply rooted than you can imagine and how YOU and I are just pawns within the system unless we take ourselves out from under its mercy– which is exactly what I will show you how to do!

The truth.  A concept that our justice system was built to honor.  But even that system is capable of being distorted if a lie is repeated often enough.  Eventually it becomes confused with the original truth.  And at some point after the lie has been repeated so often, and become so embedded, it actually becomes harder to believe the truth than it is to believe the lie!  This is the power of a consistent message – true or not!

This is especially true in our legal system.  Why?  Because it was based on a solid foundation of honoring the truth.  In fact, if you look at how our legal system was developed, it was one of the most respected and fair systems ever created, and it STRONGLY discouraged litigation!  The way the U.S. legal system was designed, litigation was seen as a pariah, an absolute last resort and a failure of the system!

In fact, President Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer by training, and to this day the most respected President ever to have governed these United States once said:

“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.”

Lincoln saw lawyers as PEACEMAKERS!  Can anyone honestly say that this is true today?  This is why it becomes even more difficult to believe that our legal system could fall so far the other direction.  It’s like the year after Larry Bird retired from the Celtics, or when Michael Jordan left the Bulls.  Both teams were so bad the following year it was almost hard to believe!

Well that is where we are today – last in the league!  For someone like me who regularly travels all over the world, I am often embarrassed to even admit that I am a lawyer in America.  I mean there is an honest disbelief of how we sue each other over anything and everything.  I find myself explaining how it happened and why it has gotten so bad.  I explain that America has left the fox to guard the henhouse and that in clever response the fox has redesigned the legal system to accommodate nothing less than extortion! (I will explain what ‘Legal Extortion’ is later in this report)

More than once I have heard someone say, “we used to do business in the U.S. but the litigation risk became too great.”  In fact, if we look at everything from foreign investment to currency reserves held in dollar, everything is down with no sign of stopping.  Why is that?  It’s because America is no longer the safest place for people to live, work or do business.

In fact, along with terrorist and currency risk,  ‘lawsuit risk’ is now something that investors must consider when investing in any company that does business in the U.S.  Ask anyone who was invested in or worked for any one of the 70+ companies[1] that have filed bankruptcy in the nationwide asbestos litigation scandal!

Asbestos litigation is a poster-child for what lawyers can and will do to a company, or in this case an industry, if given free reign.   What is so grotesque about the asbestos scandal is that a great many people were actually made very sick, or died, from asbestos.  In such a widespread national crisis, it would make sense to create a master plan that would help to compensate ALL of those injured in some reasonable fashion.  This is what England did, where the lawyers do not yet own the system.  But here, WE SOLD OUR LEGAL SYSTEM TO THE LAWYERS![2]  What ended up happening?

What ended up happening is that a few who were injured, who acted early while the companies were still in business, got HUGE awards!  The lawyers that represented them also got HUGE FEES!  These awards were justified to a jury, not as compensation for actual injury, but as punishment to the companies.  Once these lawyers had killed the goose that laid the golden egg, by bankrupting over 70 U.S. Companies, the rest of the injured people got little or NOTHING!  The lawyers then turned to the 2^nd tier companies who didn’t even produce asbestos, but those that had only installed it or delivered it.  They then bankrupt them!  And all the while under the mantle of JUSTICE for the injured.

Is that true, is it really serving a greater purpose of justice?  Because if it was, then this report should be balanced against the good that the lawyers would be serving.  The problem is that it is NOT TRUE!  The stats are that in 2003, 100,000 new asbestos claims were filed, the MOST EVER in a single year! But here’s the rub!  80%-90% of the claimants have NO ILLNESS![3] (For those of you who really like the details please read the footnote below researched and written by a lawyer in a Law Review Article!  This is not mass media but a peer review journal using empirical research!)

All this does is leave the 10% who do end up with a problem left out in the cold after all the money has been scooped up by the corrupt lawyers.  And even in cases where there was real damage, only 22% of the award ever goes toward the real losses!  Where do you think the rest goes? – to the lawyers and to the dysfunctional system!

It is simply not in the interest of those initial lawyers to consider anyone who was to come next.  It was in their interest to simply make the case that the biggest possible award against a big fortune 500 company was justified to punish them and make sure they get the message not to do it again! (Tough to do when you are out of business!)  It didn’t matter that this would leave nothing left for the thousands of other’s who were injured, or that an entire section of the U.S. economy would be devastated.

You see, in this system there is no JUSTICE, there is only economic reward for the most aggressive and ruthless and connected attorneys!  Why are we letting TRIAL LAWYERS set the rules about issues that should be considered as a whole?  Why didn’t we see this as a public policy issue and simply cut out the middle men (lawyers) and fairly apportion the resources while still allowing those companies to stay in business an contribute to the reparations?  The answer is that THE LAWYERS CONTROL THE SYSTEM!  Why would they cut themselves out?

We all saw it again in the Tobacco litigation.  The lawyers were compensated at an extreme rate! (One study found that one firm of 33 lawyers were paid over $22,000 per hour each!  That is assuming that they all worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for over 3 years!)  And this hot streak of mass tort litigation that affects us all is not over!  The next hot topic is the sub-prime lending market.  Look for the lawyers to start putting as many banks, brokers, agents and lenders out of business as possible as they milk their next victims taking home huge fees and leaving us with a coupon for $75 off of the closing costs for our next mortgage!

In fact, if we look at the overall economic impact of litigation in the U.S. it is now measured in TRILLIONS of dollars. Forget the 60,000 jobs directly lost, with $200 million in wages sucked out of our economy, or the 128,000 future jobs lost due to canceled investments by the now bankrupt defendants.  Let’s look at the annual cost as EACH YEAR lawsuits are directly responsible for the redistribution of OVER $300 BILLION dollars, of which less than 22% goes to those actually injured!

Add to that the indirect costs and economic impact of the hundreds of thousands of Americas who have lost their jobs and their pensions and the hundreds of thousand more who have been devastated by the trickle down effect of massive bankruptcies, and you can see why in the past 25 years plaintiffs’ attorneys have become some of the richest people in America.  Where exactly did all that money come from?

But Doug, you are talking about big business and giant class action lawsuits, this doesn’t really affect me – right?  WRONG!  Of the 50,000+ lawsuits filed EVERY DAY in this country, the vast majority of them are NOT big class action suits.  In fact of the over 1 million attorneys in the U.S. today, the vast majority of them work for small firms or are solo practitioners.  And it doesn’t take many of them to saturate the market as they troll for cases to feed their litigation machine!

And where do they go to get them?  Just take a look at your yellow pages, or at the billboards that grace your streets.  Or type in “injury lawyer” or any number of possible themes on this phrase in Google.ä  Who is advertising?  And who are they advertising too?  Does it sound to you like they are targeting just the big companies when they say:

 “Injured at Work?  Call us for a Free Consultation”

In fact, if we search any of these terms we begin to see the wide variety of injuries and cases that these lawyers are fishing for:

- Truck Accidents                                                       – Auto Accidents

- Defective Products                                                   – Medical Malpractice

- Wrongful Death                                                         – Dangerous Premises

- Traumatic Head and Brain Injuries                   – Burn Injuries

- Work Injuries                                                             – Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence

- Bicycle Injuries                                                         – Swimming Pool Injuries

- Cruise Ship and Boating Accidents                   – Wrongful Termination

- Airplane Accidents                                                  – Premises Liability and Falls

- Vehicle Rollover and Tire Defect                       – Construction Site Injuries

- Birth Injuries                                                             – Headaches from Work

- Stress Disorder                                                          – Carpel Tunnel Syndrome

- Hostile Work Environment                                   – Workplace Harassment

- And on, and on, and on!

In the end it all comes down to a numbers game for every one of those one million attorneys (one for every 292 Americans).  How many cases can I start, how much is my average collection per case, and how much time must I spend on each one.  FOLKS – Law is a Business!  Nothing more and nothing less!  Lawyers are not the defenders of justice and they do not adhere to an ethical code that is greater than that of the people they sue.   They are not bad people because of it, but they are human!

They are businesspeople and will exploit every available opportunity to make their numbers.  And if you continue to let the fox guard the henhouse of your personal finances you can hardly be surprised if he ends up with feathers in his mouth.

I’ll end this introduction with a brief, but enlightening story.   When I wrote my first book about the Litigation Explosion in the U.S. called “The Lawsuit Lottery:  The Highjacking of Justice in America,” I sent a copy to a select group of attorney colleagues for comment.  Without exception they were all stunned and shocked.  They wrote me back: “Doug, are you sure this is a good idea for you to be revealing this much information.  I mean you are an attorney, and you do know who controls your profession – Don’t you?”  Of course, they meant the Trial Lawyers, the controlling Family in the Brotherhood of attorneys.  (I will be telling you much more about the Trial Lawyers and their dubious practices later in this report!)

I can only imagine what they would say if they see how much more I am about to reveal in the following pages about what is really going on!  I am sure we shall see.

Section 2. The Truth About Lawsuits!  

The lawsuit.    Never has man created a more cleverly crafted tool to bring out the least desirable qualities in the human experience.  The lawsuit has been despised even from the beginning.  The French satirist of the 17^th century, Jean de la Bruyere advised:  “Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.”

We all know it too.  Conflict brings out the worst in us.  This is especially true when we feel that we are right!  It is because of this instinctual understanding, that throughout the entire world (the United States Notwithstanding) lawsuits are actually a relatively rare phenomenon.  In fact this was true for America as well up until the 1960’s.  But something here changed around then.  This is the time when lawyers started thinking like businesspeople.

As I stated above, this in itself is not the problem.  It is difficult to begrudge anyone for a desire to be financially successful at what they do.  The problem comes about in HOW the lawyers have done it.

My goal in this report is to help you understand not only what the effects are, but HOW and WHY we have gotten there.  You see, until you understand this, it will be emotionally difficult for you to consider taking back the control that has been stolen from you.

If you are like me, then you want to believe that you can depend on the system and trust that if you are ever in front of a judge and jury that they will see through the lies and find the truth. That in the end they will come to a fair and reasonable result.   And as long as you believe that, then you will actually feel bad taking the power of that judge and jury away from them.  But if you want any sense to be brought back into YOUR PERSONAL life then taking back that power is exactly what you will need to do – and by the time you reach the end of this report, you will know exactly how to do it.

As we move through this report, I’ll be telling you not only what’s wrong with the current system, but much more importantly I’ll be telling you WHY the emperors of the system do what they do and HOW that impacts you directly every single day of your life, even if you never get sued!  I’ll explain the EFFECT of what they do, so you understand far more than just what the problems are.  You’ll understand why you spend more money than you have too (even though globalization is making costs less expensive than ever) on everything from groceries to cars, and why all this is happening at a time when you are less secure about your financial future than ever before.

I will also be showing you how the rules have been changing to support creditors!  That is not just the people you borrow money from, but that also means anyone who gets a court award or judgment against you!  You see when you are sued, and you lose, the judgment is entered into the court records and that plaintiff turns into a creditor!  That means they have all the remedies to collect against you that your bank has if you default on your mortgage.  That includes seizing your assets, garnishing your wages and even forcing you into bankruptcy!  All by someone that you never volunteered or agreed to pay a penny!

(You may DOWNLOAD the full report by filling out the form to your right, or by clicking here and filling out the form on the home page.)

The Shocking Truth About the U.S. Legal System! is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

Checks and Balances of an Offshore Trustee is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

Swiss banking is a really fantastic way to protect your assets on many different levels. I am not referring to UBS and Credit Suisse, but protection in conjunction  with your asset protection plan. We are moving assets when we are talking about Swiss banking to a Swiss bank inside of your asset protection trust. This is the ultimate layer of protection in your asset protection plan.

Swiss private banking gives you possession physically outside of the country and legal title outside of your asset protection plan. You have control, but your assets are not there to be grabbed. It also does something else which I’ve become very aware of and concerned with in the last four years and that’s the actual safety of the banks and institutions we hold out money in.

Institutional Risk

I sent out a letter at the end of last year stating my concern around institutional risk. Institutional risk means that the bank that you hold your money in is not there one day or is in bankruptcy and you can’t get your money immediately or your money at all. Five years ago banking failures was something you would talk about in the context of the past. Since modern banking, modern financing, and modern governments we haven’t had any banking failures to speak or and certainly nobody lost any money.

When 2008 came around people lost money. Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns went under. Many people lost lots of money during this time and are only getting a fraction of their money back. Anything less than 100% is unacceptable. One of my main concerns about US banks is the tier 1 capital ratios. Switzerland solves this because their banking system is incredibly safe. Their tier 1 capital ratios are five times what we have in the United States. There’s personal liabilities of the partners and executives of the bank for customer’s money.

Common Questions About Swiss Bank Accounts

What’s the minimum to open up a Swiss bank account?

• The minimum is one million dollars, although an account can be opened with half a million dollars if the bank is aware that it is a starting balance and the customer is going to be adding more.

Protect Your Assets On Many Different Levels Through Swiss Banking is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

Having the domestic parts of your asset protection plan is very good. We set up most of our limited partnerships in the state of Arizona because it gives us strong statutory protection. Although this does provide a first layer of defense there’s a problem and that’s principle number two. Principle number two is possession which is only 9/10ths of the law. Make sure that you use this to your advantage and you are not having this used against you.

Even with a great domestic plan with four limited liability companies, a rock solid asset management limited partnership which is done properly and aged well, the U.S. court can decide that they are going to pierce your plan. The U.S. court can do this because they have the power to do so and if at any point they feel unsympathetic towards your case for whatever reason you can not be 100% assured that your assets are protected in purely domestic plans. This is where the asset protection trust comes into play!

Moving your assets beyond the reach of U.S. courts!

The asset protection trust is an international trust and it allows you to do a few very important things.

• Separate ownership from beneficial use and control.
• Enables you to move the assets beyond the reach of the U.S. courts.
• Away from a U.S. judge and jury.
• Away from that possession is 9/10ths of the law.

This gives you possession and puts you in the driver’s seat. After all this is what asset protection is all about!

Where we are today and why you need a plan in place

Lawsuits have increased dramatically within the last 4 years than in the previous 14 years combined. We see it in our office all the time. We have triggered and needed to use more plans than is the previous 14 years. The reason for this is because the economy creates a lot less money and when there’s less money there’s more conflict and more people fighting for that money.

What this means for business owners is more partnership disputes, more lawsuits in general designed to simply move assets from the person being sued to the person suing. This is great for the legal system because it means more advertising for plaintiff’s attorneys. I’m sure you cross these advertisements on a daily basis. It’s more important than ever that you have a plan in place, you maintain your plan, and that it’s updated properly.

Have additional questions about updating your current plan, asset protection trust or general questions about asset protection. Give us a call at Lodmell & Lodmell. There is no question to small or too big for us to handle.

How An Asset Protection Trust Can Save You From U.S. Courts! is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

The answer is anyone with equity in their assets. Clearly high risk professionals need it because they already are running risks that are greater than average. Its not just the doctors or the people with high risk professions. It’s anyone with assets they want to hold onto.

We live in a super litigious society and it’s only getting worse. Having an asset protection plan in place is critical! The last four years have proven to my clients that having a plan in place is accomplishing the job of deterring people from continuing to pursue a lawsuit or file one in the first place.

High risk professionals already are targets and business owners especially if you have employees. Just to add a short note about employees, which has become one of the hottest topics for plaintiffs attorneys in the last five years.I have a friend who runs a company in L.A. California, which is a very difficult state to have employees.

My friend who has 200 employees, had one file an employee related lawsuit and it was won by the employer. Nothing was done wrong but the attorney that had the lawsuit started fishing inside the business. The attorney was saying, “hey ask your friends, and tell your friends,” that he has his attorney sitting outside of his business waiting for his employees to do something wrong.

What kind of claims will asset protection planning protect your assets from?

All claims if done properly and this is the distinction between asset protection and insurance. Think of asset protection as your protection from anything. Insurance is protection from a particular thing you do. There are very different ways to go about protecting yourself and I am a firm believer in insurance. I have insurance and I don’t drive my car without it. Although I do have insurance, I don’t consider it full net worth protection. I don’t consider insurance as something that is protecting my pockets.

An asset protection plan on the other hand does a number of different things to minimize risks, such as:

• Protecting you from virtually all claims
• Limiting your exposure from personal guarantees
• Isolating loans
• Augmenting your insurance

There are many cases that I have seen where insurance was insufficient just because the case turned out to be a big one. I’ve seen a lot of automobile cases that have turned out to be very big. Some in the ranges of $300,000 – $1 million of coverage and they started looking at personal assets. When it comes down to it, it’s about making yourself  look unattractive. The problem is we spend our lives making ourselves look attractive. This is an area where you would want to look very unattractive to a plaintiffs’ attorney.

Do you have questions which I didn’t address or would like us to assess your situation? Contact Lodmell and Lodmell today! We are here to help.

A Few Reasons Why You Need Asset Protection is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

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 International Wealth Management 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, International Wealth Management Trust or any of the other key concepts discussed in this blog, please call today.

Understanding Basic Concepts Of An Asset Protection Plan is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

Since they are real estate, you can hurt yourself on them, and they are know as risky assets they are going into your limited liability company or your asset protection trust. This will all depend on the character of the property, the equity of the property, how you use the property, and where it is located. If its an investment or rental real estate and you have a plan it is most likely in a limited liability company.

When your property is put into a limited liability company, the limited liability company is owned by your limited partnership, the limited partnership in turn is owned by your asset protection trust, you’re protecting the equity of that property from lawsuits. I like to refer to this as outside lawsuits or external threats.

How your limited liability company can work to your advantage?

If you get sued from a car accident, employee, malpractice or anything outside of the property by having the LLC properly connected to your plan you are providing protection to that equity. It protects the rest of your assets from the property itself creating a liability. If someone has an accident, slips, falls, there is a death on the property and the owner is being sued. The owner is you in the form of the limited liability company. Not you in the form of you personally, so it limits that liability.

This is a simple explanation of the limited liability company.  The owners of the company are not left financially responsible for the liabilities of the company. This tool is very good in protecting liabilities from both directions.

Does the LLC do the same thing for boats, planes, and other risky assets?

There are a few things to consider when putting your plan together. It’s important to consider what these assets are, where they are, and make sure that they are exactly in those places that they are suppose to be. Lets say you have a rowboat or a jumbo and its a really tiny boat, not worth more than $1,500. You probably are not worried about protecting the boat. You are probably more worried about protecting yourself from the boat.

Insurance is probably your best bet if you own one small boat or one jet ski. Doesn’t make sense to create a separate LLC for just one small boat or jet ski. Although I do have some clients that have an LLC with multiple small risky assets. A good example of this is creating an LLC with three jet skis, two snowmobiles, a hand glider, parasail, and three motor homes. It makes sense to create a separate LLC for clients who have a lot of risky assets.

Do you have questions or would like more information on a limited liability company? Call us at Lodmell & Lodmell we are happy to discuss your situation or give you further information asset protection.

Taking a Closer Look at a Limited Liability Company is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm

Signing for your limited partnership is a mistake you want to avoid. Your limited partnership should never guarantee loans or conduct business, unless you are using that particular entity to conduct a certain business. If you are using it to hold that asset, then it shouldn’t be conducting another business. You don’t want it creating more risks and most importantly you should not use it for the purpose to guarantee loans.

I’ve seen a few clients get in trouble these last few years because they actually signed on behalf of their asset protection plan with a limited partnership on the loan they did. Of course the reasons are understandable. The bank required it or sometimes people don’t realize or know that they could have said no. Most people don’t think there is a chance that they are not going to repay the loan. A personal guarantee should remain a personal guarantee. The key is to make sure that you don’t inadvertently obligate your asset protection structure to a guarantee.

Respect the corporate formalities

Not respecting the corporate formalities is a very common mistake that many people make. Often people make this mistake without noticing that they are. Some of the common mistakes people make are failing to set up segregated accounts for the limited liability company or limited partnership and using a limited partnership or LLC to pay for personal expenses.

The reality is that maintaining an LLC or limited partnership is extremely easy. They don’t require minutes like a corporation does. For the most part the states that we use for our clients don’t require annual filings, so it’s very hard to miss a filing and have your plan inadvertently dissolved.

If you have a rental property in an LLC that LLC should have a bank account. Rents paid to that rental property should be deposited into that bank account and that bank cash should be used to pay expenses related to it. People often use the money from the LLC bank account or limited partnership to go shopping at Costco or to cover other personal expenses.

Spending money from your asset protection plan

You are in control of your plan and are always free to take money from your plan. The proper way to spend money from your asset protection plan is to take it out and put it into your personal account. If the money is in your business account it should be used on business expenses.

We don’t want your plan conducting business this way it isn’t creating a liability. Although there is one exception, we want your plan conducting one business and that’s the business of managing your assets. That’s the business its allowed to be in and that business is allowed to have its own expenses and accounting.

Do you have questions about asset protection or want to know more about other common mistakes to avoid? Tell us your situation, we would be happy to address any questions you have in detail. Call us at Lodmell & Lodmell.

Critical Mistakes To Avoid In Your Asset Protection Plan is a post from: Lodmell & Lodmell, the Nation's #1 Asset Protection Law Firm