Protecting your assets: Asset protection planning
involves figuring out and applying a lawful series of techniques
that protect your assets from claims of future creditors.
The techniques are designed to deter potential creditors
from going after you, and frustrate them if they do, generally
by making it difficult or impossible for future creditors
to grab hold of your assets or collect judgments against
you.
In cases where significant sums are involved, asset protection
planning often includes setting up a series of trusts, partnerships
and/or off-shore entities to hold legal title to your assets.
A future creditor who recognizes how difficult it would
be to collect on any judgment it may win, might decide it
makes little sense to pursue a claim, or be willing to settle
for pennies on the dollar.
There is a very sharp dividing line between "legal"
asset protection planning on the one hand, and actions to
defraud creditors, which are criminal, on the other. For
that reason it is essential to have an attorney guide you
through the process.
