Keys to an Asset Protection Plan
“LATE-R” is already too “LATE.”
“If you’ve taken NO steps to protect yourself, your wealth, and your family from thieves, con artists, ruthless greedy lawyers, overzealous bureaucrats; you have underestimated the abilities of these shrewd, ruthless, invasive, money-hungry, predators.” – Rocco Beatrice, CPA, MST, MBA
Definition:
It’s the concept of protecting and preserving one’s assets from frivolous, illogical, ill motivated, more often than not, devastating catastrophic claims against your wealth, designed to destroy your current and future lifestyle. In short, they want what you’ve got and they want to inflict maximum pain.
Asset protection has two goals:
- To make the enforcement of judgments against your protected assets virtually impossible, and
- To allow the “owner” of protected assets to retain engineered “control” over his assets
How Good Asset Protection can Protect Your Privacy:
“Identity Theft” is the fastest growing financial crime in America – source: the U.S. Secret Service
There are literally hundreds of ways to protect your assets. Some are just common sense. Don’t flash your money around; don’t talk too much at parties, etc. By implementing a properly crafted asset protection plan, your creditor will have to jump through several hoops, before he even finds your money. A contingent fee predator lawyer will want an easier target.
There are approximately 950,000 lawyers. Just go through your own yellow pages. Most of them live on what they can “squeeze out of you.” Don’t become a statistic. Learn from other people’s mistakes. Learn how to become every contingency-fee lawyer’s nightmare.
The Internet is spyware on steroids and can be used as invisible wealth snatchers. Information collection about you, your associates, your family, your finances, has been compromised by the enhancement of data gathering technology through the internet. “Even if you’ve got nothing to hide” your very basic privacy can be had for a few bucks by thieves, con artists, ruthless greedy lawyers, and overzealous bureaucrats.
How “paranoid” are you? How “paranoid” should you be? the problem is not the zillion merchants collecting data about your spending habits. The problem is who’s collecting the data without your knowledge. And, for what purpose?
A Good Plan will:
- Protect your current and future lifestyle
- Discourage litigation and promote settlements, in your favor
- Keep the ownership of your assets confidential and hard to find
- Eliminate the need of prenuptial agreements
- Internationalize your investments as a hedge against the unexpected surprise
- Spread out your control over your most valuable assets
- Help you in getting a fresh start, if you ever became insolvent in any of your other assets
- Hedge against potential political, economic, and personal instability
Chartered Blueprint of Wealth Preservation and Steps to Protecting Assets:
- What are your financial goals?
- Think about each of your personal/business assets that you need or wish to protect
- Will there be domestic and/or international platform(s)?
- Select the legal entities:
- Ultra Trust®
- Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- Foreign Limited Liability Company (FLLC)
- or Foreign entities such as: Foreign Bank Account, International Business Company, Foreign Trust, Foreign Security Trust
Steps to Asset Protection (Expounded):
- Your financial goals should be:
- Protecting Assets / wealth preservation
- Defer your Capital Gains Taxes
- Defer, reduce, possibly eliminate your “Income Taxes.”
- Eliminate “Probate Jail” and Eliminate ALL your “Inheritance Taxes.”
- Determine your personal and/or business assets which may include:
- Personal residence
- Personal checking
- Certificates of deposits
- Investment accounts
- Broker stock accounts
- Other real Estate
- Life insurance policy(ies)
- Automobiles, boats, planes, collectibles, antiques
- Individual retirement account(s)
- Inheritance #1, Inheritance #2
- Business #1
- Cash, Accounts receivable, Inventory Equipment, Goodwill, Other assets
- Business #2
- Partnership interest #1
- Partnership interest #2
- Note: Same planning applies for each of your business assets
- What are your financial goals:
- Domestic or Foreign/International
- Your financial goal(s) points: 1,2,3 & 4 OR combinations of 1+4 OR 2+4 OR 3+4, etc.
- Domestic Platform(s):
- Irrevocable Trust or Revocable Trust
- Grantor Trust or Non-grantor Trust
- Living Trust
- Insurance Trust
- Personal Residence Trust
- *Ultra Trust®
- Corporation
- General Partnership
- Limited Partnership
- Family Limited Partnership
- *Limited Liability Company (LLC)
- *Family Limited Liability Company (FLLC)
- *Customized Hybrids, i.e. LLC, Family LLC, Limited Partnership, Family Limited Partnership or General Partnership is owned by an UltraTrust®
- * = My preferred structures
- Foreign Platform(s)1 (please read note – 1)
- Foreign Bank Account
- International Business Company
- Foreign A/P Trust
- Foreign Security Trust
- Foreign Limited Liability Company (FAPT)
- Offshore Uni Trusts
- Offshore Mutual Fund
- International Trading Company
- Multi-Currency Bank Deposits
- Swiss Annuities
- Foreign Credit Card
- Foreign Stock Trading Account
- Registered Foreign Office
- Registered Foreign Sales Facilities
- Note – Use “Good” planning NOT “Secrecy.” Rely on “Law” NOT “Secrecy.”
1**Watch out for Foreign and Offshore Scams & Practitioners**
There’s a thriving industry of “offshore practitioners” advising IRS definition of “U.S. Person” to set-up offshore bank accounts and other financial structures thinking that they have “just become NON-U.S. Taxable.” They persuade the U.S. Persons to trust the “Iron Clad” secrecy laws of the jurisdiction and not to report ownership of their funds or structures to the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies. This is pure and simple tax fraud and gets many U.S. Persons in trouble.
WARNING: Complexity(ies) of U.S. laws requires many tax reporting and other various reporting requirements. Protect yourself, make absolutely sure that you seek competent professional expert legal, accounting, and tax advice before you consider implementing your foreign A/P plan. Contact Estate Street Partners and get the facts for proper U.S. reporting procedures.
Authorities are looking for NON-COMPLIANCE, not for those who report and comply. We believe in full disclosure. If there’s no reporting form, we make-up our own and file.
To my knowledge, there are no laws prohibiting you from protecting your hard-earned money with offshore international structures, as long as you file all proper documentation with proper reporting agencies. When protecting your assets / wealth preservation plan is professionally and carefully implemented by competent professionals, the foreign side of life becomes significantly enhanced. Most international jurisdictions do not recognize U.S. based creditor judgments.
For example: a proper utilization of a foreign bank account should be part of protecting your assets / wealth preservation plan, it’s the less complex and the most useful part of protecting your assets / wealth preservation strategy. Your cash will become an “A/P fortress,” just make sure that you check the box on your Form 1040 schedule B, and file TD F 90-22.1. NO BIG DEAL. There is absolutely no downside to proper reporting on the existence of a foreign bank account.
No Financial plan is ever 100% bullet proof: Know These Facts about a good plan
- You can’t lose your assets without first being sued and them winning the lawsuit. Winning and getting the money are two separate issues.
- Implement your A/P strategy when times are good. It’s too late when the crap starts flying. You will have to deal with several “fraudulent conveyance” laws – that is, if you had some warning, or you merely became aware (real or potential), or you should have been aware that someone was going to potentially sue you. By implementing any A/P plan, you made your assets unavailable to satisfy creditor claims. Therefore, you may be found guilty of a “fraudulent conveyance.” The judge may set aside your attempt to hide your assets and hand it over to your creditors. In addition, the judge may decide to throw the book at you with other financial and possibly other consequences. PLAN EARLY, when the sea is calm. Don’t become a statistic.
- Your creditors can’t take what you don’t have. Don’t put everything in your name. Don’t be so obvious.
- What your creditor’s don’t know becomes your asset. Don’t volunteer information, don’t flaunt your wealth, don’t talk too much at parties, don’t tell them your business, don’t tell them how smart you are.
- No country in the world will automatically honor a judgment against you. Outside the United States there are no contingency lawyers. Your creditor must re-litigate his case in the foreign country. Your creditor must put up a bond. Your creditor must pre-pay attorney fees. If your creditor loses his case he must pay your attorney fees. Finally, your creditor must prove that the laws of their country are invalid, the judge is a bum, and that the whole country should disappear into the sea.
- There’s a greater chance that you will be sued more times than you will have a hospital stay.
- Your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is not protected by ERISA. Your Individual Retirement Account is usually the second asset to be attacked, behind your cash and investment account. Your IRA is an easy target because (1) It’s always in the United States and (2) Your IRA is usually in cash or near cash.
- The United States is the only country that permits contingent fee litigation.
- There are approximately 950,000 lawyers. Just go through your own yellow pages. Most of them live on what they can squeeze out of you. Don’t become a statistic.
For many self-made, hard working citizens, the “American Dream” can become the “American Nightmare.” Exorbitant taxes, lawsuit-friendly courtrooms, persistent predator plaintiffs, and contingent-fee clever lawyers are a constant threat to everything you’ve worked so hard to accomplish. It could all evaporate before your very eyes.
Take personal responsibility. If you’ve taken no steps to protect yourself, your wealth, and your family from thieves, con artists, ruthless greedy lawyers, overzealous bureaucrats…you have underestimated the abilities of these shrewd, ruthless, invasive, money-hungry predators.
Helpful resources: Many readers also review Revocable vs Irrevocable Trust, Case Studies, and official CFPB guidance for heirs while sorting through timing, control, and long-term protection choices.
Where the next decision becomes clearer
Once What is Asset Protection is on the table, the next questions usually center on risk, flexibility, and which planning step deserves attention first.
Points readers weigh before moving forward
- Timing matters because planning choices usually become narrower once a problem is already close.
- Control matters because the answer often depends on how much access or authority the owner wants to keep.
- Funding matters because a trust or entity has to be set up and maintained correctly to matter.
Practical reading path
To keep the next step practical rather than abstract, readers often move to Asset Protection Trust, Irrevocable Trust, and How It Works. When the question turns from reading to implementation, many readers move from these guides to a direct planning conversation.
