Are you concerned that you could be sued for professional, product, environmental or other liabilities? Do you want to protect your retirement income from liability risks? If you answer "yes" to either of these questions, Asset Protection Planning will help you resolve your concerns. If you are "wealthy", "comfortable" or even if you just have some positive net worth, most likely you are concerned about keeping what you have, and preventing others from taking it. This concern is real, as there are people who will take advantage of any opportunity to take what you have.

Asset protection planning enables you to employ legal techniques to prevent anyone from taking your assets. However, there are limitations as to what you can and cannot do.

Asset protection planning involves figuring out and applying a lawful series of techniques that will help you protect your assets from claims of future creditors. The techniques are very much designed to deter potential creditors from going after you and your assets, with a view to frustrate them if they do, generally by making it difficult or as impossible for future creditors as possible 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.

We urge all visitors to Free Advice to beware of some operators, sometimes posing as foreign trust companies, that market packages of services that they claim will protect your assets. Some of them are criminal enterprises that will steal your assets. Some are fast buck artists that will leave you with no protection. Some will open you up to serious criminal charges. Many will do all three - take your money, leave you with no protection, and set you on the road to prison.

Together with an experienced lawyer you should first perform an asset risk analysis to assess both the likelihood and extent of your exposure -- in light of your occupation and other activities that could create liability - and the nature and extent of your assets, your family situation, as well as your own personal wishes and desires. You and the lawyer, perhaps with input from other professionals, would evaluate the various risks and exposures you face, and figure out how far you are willing to go to protect your assets from attack. Sometimes, and for some people, merely buying more insurance or incorporating your business will suffice. For others, more would be required to give you the level of confidence you desire.