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More Ways To Protect Your Assets
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| More Ways To Protect Your Assets | | |||||||||||||
By: | | Jim Bennett | | ||||||||||||
Date: | | 05/17/2000 | | ||||||||||||
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MORE WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR ASSETS Your offshore asset protection plan should rely on countries where the philosophy is, "You deserve to keep your money unless someone can show an extraordinarily good reason to take it from you." When you ask a lawyer to set up an offshore asset protection plan, make sure you follow these secrets: Secret #1: Make sure you choose a country that refuses to enforce foreign judgments. If the country does not enforce foreign judgments, then you have built the first firewall around your assets. This means the predator cannot take a judgment from a U.S. court and get the foreign country to help collect it. If your adversary tries, your offshore protective country will tell him that the paper his judgment is written on would be better used for wrapping fish. Secret #2: Make sure you choose a country that has a short statute of limitations on fraudulent conveyances. A statute of limitations is a law that controls the number of years after which someone may not challenge something you did. A fraudulent conveyance is the transfer of assets with the intention of keeping your creditors from getting them. If the statute of limitations on a fraudulent conveyance has passed, no one can challenge your transfer, regardless of your intentions. You should create your offshore asset protection plan in a country that has a very short statute of limitations on fraudulent conveyances. This means that even if you did transfer your assets after you were sued ? which I don?t recommend ? the predator-plaintiff who wants your money would not be allowed to raise that claim because the statute of limitations has passed. If a country has a very short statute of limitations, the predator-plaintiff will have very little or no time to file a new fraudulent conveyance lawsuit there. A short statute of limitations builds the second firewall around your assets. Secret #3: Make sure you choose a country that has a law requiring a heavy burden of proof in fraudulent conveyance lawsuits. A heavy burden of proof builds the third firewall around your assets. If your adversary is lucky enough to get his fraudulent conveyance lawsuit filed in your offshore country within the time limit, he will still have to prove that you knew the predator had a claim against you when you transferred the money. The heavier the burden, the better for you. A good asset protection country forces the predator to prove this beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the heaviest burden there is. Secret #4 : Make sure you choose a country that has a law that requires strict confidentiality. Offshore protective countries take secrecy very seriously. In many countries, bankers or trustees who violate confidentiality laws are subject to criminal prosecution punishable by imprisonment. Trust lawsuits are also heard in secret and the records are sealed. Secret #5: Make sure you choose a country that is politically stable. The last thing you want to do is to set up your trust or LLC under the laws of a country that suffers a coup by communist guerrillas who decide to nationalize all assets in international trusts. Even if this happened, your plan would keep you from losing your money (It would be in a Swiss bank, for example.) But you might face considerable headaches straightening out your claims. Fortunately, a country doesn't need to be big or rich to be politically stable. The Bahamas, for example, has enjoyed centuries of political stability. Secret #6: Make sure you choose a country that has an advanced communications infrastructure. Why is this important? You need a fast, reliable communications system so you can reach people in your protective country on a moment's notice. You may need to get things done quickly, and you don?t want to worry about a communications breakdown. Secret #7: Make sure you choose a country that has an adequate number of qualified local professionals. You need skilled local lawyers, in case a predator-plaintiff tries to make trouble there. And you need competent, trustworthy advisors you can select to fill important roles in your asset protection plan, such as a local trustee. | | | ||||||||||||
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