Asset protection has firmly established itself as part of every successful American’s life. Small business owners have to worry about losing their business to the frivolous lawsuit. Government regulators, the IRS, and half the entitlement Joes are waiting to take away everything they have. You won’t find many lawyers that do asset protection planning for their clients, because the lawyer is going to make a ton more money cleaning up the mess after you are attacked than they would preventing the mess. Common disasters, like lawsuits, divorce, taxes, illness, and identity theft are something every one of us faces daily. Any one of these common disasters is a major asset protection threat to your financial security. Doing some asset protection planning today will make a big difference when you get hit by one of life’s disasters.
Most asset protection techniques are based on the concept of ownership. When you are attacked through one of the asset protection threats, you can only lose what you “own.” Asset protection planning usually breaks up assets between spouses or other family members. The trick in asset protection planning is to move ownership away from you and still have you control the assets and get the beneficial enjoyment of the assets.
Most of the houses around mine have businessmen or professionals living in them. I know all of my neighbors, but one day I looked at the land plat of our neighborhood, and none of their names appeared on the county records. They use a lot of different asset protection planning techniques, and in every case, “ownership” of their house has been removed from them. Usually the spouse is the direct or indirect owner of the professional’s house. If the spouse directly or indirectly owns the house, it will be protected when the business has a problem or the professional is sued for malpractice. Have the spouse’s living trust actually own the house, so that you don’t end up probating the house if your spouse dies.
There are only a few “legal tools” that an attorney can use to move ownership of assets in an asset protection plan. Living trusts can be used to hold assets, but you should note that they don’t give you good asset protection. The trust is not protecting the property. Corporations are good asset protection shields. They are primarily used in business structuring, but they can form part of a family asset protection plan. Limited partnerships are another good asset protection tool that can be use in a business structure or a family’s asset protection structure. When they are used in a family asset protection plan, they are called a Family Limited Partnership or FLP. In today’s legal arsenal, the most flexible tool we have is the LLC or Limited Liability Company.
In any asset protection plan, a living trust needs to be used to hold “ownership” of the other entities used, such as the LLC, FLP, and corporations. Using the living trust as part of your asset protection plan, you can avoid lots of estate taxes, avoid probate, and even manage assets from your grave.

Order my new book, Guaranteed Millionaire, and learn how to structure your asset protection plan with the living trust at the core. With you order of Guaranteed Millionaire, make sure they include the asset protection DVD, Using the Law to Make Money and Protect Your Assets. It’s FREE. Yes, the DVD, which is normally $19.99, is yours FREE. It gives you a great tour of the asset protection tools you can use today.

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