Dear Clients, Colleagues, and Friends,
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Jonathan Clements, “If you listed your financial fears, you might include a repeat of 2008’s market meltdown, losing your job and getting your identity stolen. But somewhere on the list, I suspect, would be another major worry: getting sued.”
When Mr. Clements called to interview me, I had the opportunity to chat with him about Asset-Protection Trusts. We discussed the fact that having significant assets or if you are a business owner, you could easily become a target for lawsuits. Creating this type of trust early and before any claim, protects you as the assets are placed out of harm’s way before any claim arises. Instead, distributions are at the discretion of a trustee, who could stop payouts if there was a legal judgment against you.
The article also discusses some of the nuances of domestic vs. foreign asset protection trusts, and fee options for setting them up.
Some of the other issues Mr. Clements discusses include protecting your assets with other options such as retirement accounts, real estate investments, umbrella liability insurance, and business structure options.
This WSJ Market Watch article can be found here.