Asset
Protection
Everyone
should be afraid of being sued with so many lawsuits being filed
now days around the world.
You might think that you may never be sued.
How wrong you are!
Let us first take a look at how easy it is to be sued now days.
One of the first dangers is being indirectly involved with a lawsuit.
THE DANGERS OF JOINT & SEVERAL LIABILITY
This is a legal
concept whereby an individual could be sued as a second or third
defendant without having been directly involved with the original
injury to the plaintiff.
Here are some examples of how you can be sued for Joint and Several
Liability:
1. Your business partner commits theft, fraud, or a personal injury
in the course of conducting business.
2. Your spouse is accused of theft, fraud, or a personal injury
and the plaintiff sues the entire marital community (including you).
3. You render assistance to someone who was injured by another person
and the plaintiff sues you along with the person who actually committed
the injury.
4. A friend or relative borrows your car and gets into an accident.
As the car's owner, you are sued along with the driver.
5. Your company is sued for sex discrimination committed by one
of your employees and you are named as a defendant because it is
your company.
6. Your real estate investment partnership, joint venture, or company
is sued by the federal or a state government because toxic waste
is discovered on the property.
There are many more examples I could provide. The main thing is
that you can be sued and become jointly and severally liable for
an injury to someone without having been personally negligent. All
that is necessary is that you were connected in some way. If you
are dragged into a lawsuit and the other defendants are without
assets or insurance, you may end up being held liable for the full
amount of the judgment!
WHAT ABOUT INSURANCE?
Many lawyers recommend you purchase at least $1 Million insurance
for each of your businesses, homes, land, cars, motorcycles, and
boats you own.
This will cost you $ thousands in premiums every year depending
on how large a deductible (which you will pay to the plaintiff)
you are willing to afford.
However, is that really enough?
$ MILLIONS CAN BE AT STAKE
Let us take a look at how large some of these lawsuit judgments
can be.
There is a book entitled, The Professional Asset Protection Manual
by Florida attorney Mark Warda (Galt Press) which lists some of
the recent outrageous jury awards in the United States.
For example:
$84.5 million for children drowned and brain damaged in a swimming
pool.
$49 million
for a stillborn baby.
$41 million for a misdiagnosis of abdominal pain.
$5.87 million
for sponsoring a party where a guest later caused an auto accident.
$986,000 to
a woman who lost her "psychic powers" after a CAT scan.
$300,000 for
slapping a daughter twice on the face.
$75,000 for
spraying perfume on a person without permission.
$60,000 for cursing, which caused "emotional distress".
Here are some
other recent examples:
$12.7 million for a mistake in medication administered by a nurse.
$12 million to a doctor for failing to take a blood test for a
rare disorder.
$7 million
to a laborer who lost a limb at work on a construction job.
$160,000 to
an employee who was "goosed" by fellow employees.
Do not forget the widely publicized $2.7 million award to Stella
Liebeck (for her injuries from spilling some hot McDonald's coffee
between her legs while driving).
In addition to the court award, you must pay $ Thousands to your
defense attorney!
Do not forget the many hours you will spend meeting with your
attorney, answering written questions (interrogatories) from the
plaintiff's attorney, attending depositions where the plaintiff's
attorney will grill you, attending court hearings (motions), and
the trial itself.
Add all of the time and expense to the psychological and physical
stress you will endear.
Just because I am using examples from the United States, citizens
of Canada, Europe, Russia, Central & South America, and even
communist China are being sued for similar injuries.
HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF?
The best solution is to strip you of all assets and become what
is known as "judgment proof" amongst the personal injury
trial lawyers.
Most lawyers charge their clients no direct fee for filing a personal
injury lawsuit. This is known as a "contingent" fee.
It means that the lawyer will collect no fee unless he wins the
lawsuit and can collect the court awarded judgment amount.
Before a lawsuit is filed, a careful lawyer will research the
defendant's ability to pay a court judgment. If the defendant
is "judgment proof" meaning, he has no insurance, no
ownership of assets that can be seized to pay off a court judgment;
the lawyer will not want to sue that defendant. That is because
the lawyer will spend all of his time and money pursuing a lawsuit
with no hope of ever being paid.
So, how can you make yourself Judgment Proof?
OFFSHORE CORPORATIONS, TRUSTS & PRIVATE INTEREST FOUNDATIONS
Owning a corporation set up in your own country may provide a
little protection. However, a domestic corporation can be sued
as well. In addition, your shares in a corporation are assets
in which a judgment creditor can seize.
OFFSHORE CORPORATION: A better solution is to
set up a corporation outside of your country (offshore). An Offshore
Corporation can own real estate and vehicles in your country.
For even better protection, set up different Offshore Corporations
so each owns one of your major assets. For instance, one corporation
owns your cars, another owns one piece of real estate, and another
owns different real estate. As the old saying goes: "Don't
put all of your eggs in one basket."
Therefore, use Offshore Corporations
to purchase your homes, office buildings, apartments, condominiums,
raw land, and vehicles. The corporations then rent them back to
you. Now you are no longer the owner of these assets. They are
owned by Offshore Corporations. You are merely a tenant.
Remember this, it is important that you sign
a written lease agreement (preferably in front of a Notary Public)
for these properties and duly Record them with the correct state
or government agency requiring you to do so. For instance, a notarized
Lease Agreement properly describing the real property must be
filed with the appropriate county, state, or provincial government
office.
Now you have written proof that you are not the owner of the real
properties and vehicles, which you are using.
Also, remember to always pay your rent. If you
have a written rental agreement that you violate by refusing to
pay rent, it can be declared a sham by the courts. All of the
rent you pay will be deposited into your Offshore Corporation's
foreign bank account.
As for cash, deposit as much money into the Offshore
Corporation's foreign bank account as you can. These cash assets
will also be protected from any court judgment against you.
ONE WEAKNESS: While an Offshore Corporation can
legally own and rent your assets back to you, there is still one
weakness when it comes to Asset Protection. The corporation's
shares may be in your name, or if they are in a form called "Bearer's
Shares", they are still in your control. In addition, a court
could order such disclosures in a lawsuit.
You can avoid this weakness by having all of the Offshore Corporation's
shares held by either an Offshore Trust or a Private Interest
Foundation. Then you can truthfully tell the courts that you do
not have ownership in any foreign corporations or bank accounts.
IMPORTANT: Before you set up Offshore Corporations
and transfer assets to them, here is one more important fact.
You must transfer your assets before you get into legal trouble
or become exposed to a lawsuit.
FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCE: This is a legal term for
someone who tries to hide assets from creditors knowing that a
lawsuit has or will be filed against him. It is an attempt to
illegally hide assets. Such assets will not be protected from
a court judgment.
If assets are transferred before any act which arises into a lawsuit
occurs, those assets will be protected. In other words, create
your Offshore Corporations now and transfer ownership of your
assets to them before you get into trouble.
CONCLUSION
Asset Protection is necessary in today's lawsuit crazy world.
While the steps we have summarized for you above may seem difficult
and complex, they really are not. That's because using experts
who know how to set up Offshore Corporations, Trusts and/or Private
Interest Foundations will make this easy for you.
For
your Asset Protection, we recommend this English speaking Panama
Law Firm:
Panama Offshore Legal Services
www.panama-offshore-services.com
Email: info@pos-inc.com
Tel (Panama): ++ (507) 227 - 6645
Fax (Panama): ++ (507) 227 - 7485
Note:
If calling to Panama from the US or Canada,
you must dial "011" prior to the country code (507).
Toll Free Voicemail / Fax (USA): 1-800-716-3452
Monday,
February 26, 2007
Vol. 9 No. 49
Anti-Offshore
Garbage Aside,
Here's What You Can Still Do Offshore
So not withstanding the slim chances that all this anti-offshore
garbage will ever become law, please keep the following in mind...
It is
legal to have and use an offshore bank account.
It is
legal to create and donate assets to an offshore asset protection
trust or family foundation.
It is
legal to form and operate an international business corporation
(IBC).
It
is legal to acquire dual citizenship and a second passport.
It is
legal voluntarily to end U.S. citizenship and thereby remove yourself
from the U.S. tax system.
It is
legal to purchase offshore life insurance and annuities that allowed
deferred taxes.
It is
legal to invest in offshore mutual and hedge funds, precious metals
and real estate.
That's the way it looks from here,
BOB BAUMAN, Legal Counsel
Bob Bauman, The Sovereign Society's Legal Counsel and a former
Member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland,
(1973-1981).
