Asset protection is becoming an important part of middle income Americans’ lives. Small business owners have to worry about losing their business to the frivolous lawsuit. The IRS, other government regulations, and a dozen other predators are out to get them. Most lawyers don’t really concentrate on asset protection, because they make their living cleaning up the mess that comes when somebody tries to take your assets away from you. Life’s disasters, such as taxes (the IRS is a disaster), divorce, ID theft, lawsuits, major medical problems, and accidents are something we all face. When one of these disasters strike, it is a major asset protection problem. If you do some asset protection planning now, you’re financial outcome following one of life’s disasters will be a lot different than it would be if you do nothing.
All asset protection centers around ownership of property. If you don’t own it, they can’t get it when they attack you. Your spouse or children will own all or part of “your” assets. 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.
The majority of homes on my street have doctors or other 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. Each one of my neighbors has done asset protection planning, and the “ownership” of their house isn’t in their name. Often the spouse, not the professional, owns the house. If the asset protection plan is set up so the non-professional spouse owns the house, then when the professional is sued, the attacker probably can’t get the house. Actually, don’t have your spouse own the house in his or her name directly, have the house “owned” by a living trust, so that you can avoid probate if he or she dies.
There are a limited number of asset protection tools that an attorney has available to “move” ownership of assets. Please note that living trusts are not good asset protection tools. 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. A limited partnership used as part of the asset protection plan for a family is called a “Family Limited Partnership,” which is often called an FLP. The most flexible tool an attorney has for asset protection is undoubtedly a limited liability company (LLC).
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. The DVD normally sells for $19.99 without the book. It gives you a great tour of the asset protection tools you can use today.

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