Our Lawsuit Protection Catastrophe List:
1. Divorce. Marriage is a beautiful thing, but it works only about half the time. A prenuptial agreement is a good idea, but the courts routinely fail to uphold them. An experienced asset protection attorney would suggest that your best protection is to establish a separate, private financial life that is known only to you. The price of falling in love shouldn't include the loss of all your assets when the flame dies.
2. Taxes. An IRS tax audit may leave you with a large assessment for taxes, penalties, and interest that you are unable to pay and that are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. The cost of challenging the IRS in court is prohibitively expensive for most people, and your assets are frozen if you choose to grind your case through the court system. The same expert attorney above would no doubt counsel you to "legally" have your assets where the IRS can never seize them or know about them.
3. Medical Expenses. Unanticipated medical bills for you or a family member that are not covered by your health insurance policy or HMO can become staggering. The attorney I highly respect, Mr. Bill Reed, noted that the best debts to take to court involved unpaid medical bills. The debtor, or a member of his or her family, could rarely argue they never contracted for or received the services. If the debtor didn't go bankrupt, he would get 25 percent of the person's paycheck until they were paid.
4. Negligence Lawsuits. These types of lawsuits can be filed by the customers of your business as the result of the activities of your employees. Your delivery driver that gets drunk and slams into a school bus is your responsibility. And I know, we all carry insurance, but what if your limits aren't high enough... or the insurance refuses to pay? It happens everyday.
Our Lawsuit Protection Catastrophe List - Page 2:
5. Uninsured Motorists. In an automobile accident with an uninsured motorist when the damages exceed your insurance policy limits, you may have to pay the difference.
6. Sexual Harassments Suits. This would also pertain to other claims filed against you as an employer. This is a growing area of litigation, which almost always favors the plaintiffs.
7. Failed Business Venture. Your former best friend, business partner, and confidante becomes your newest worst enemy. Mr. Reed has stated that IRS agents on numerous occasions have stated that the primary source of independent informers on tax cheats (even stolen commercial software or violated licenses to name another example) are ex-wives or girlfriends (includes ex-husbands and boyfriends as well) and ex- business partners. And as anyone with a family business knows, blood is not always thicker than water.
8. Loan Guarantees. You sign as a personal guarantor for a loan to a family member or friend. The loans goes into default and the lender sues you.
9. Internet Marketers Beware of the FTC. Jim Edwards well said that "rumors are running rampant online right now about what you should and shouldn't do to protect your online business against attack from both the government and Internet 'Gold Diggers' who want to get rich by suing somebody."
The best advice anyone could give you is to stop accepting legal information from people who don't know what they're talking about. Yes, talk to an attorney and not just any attorney. You need to talk to an attorney who is experienced in this area of law. And remember, this is not an Internet lawyer but an Asset Protection lawyer that will save your assets from being taken... there is a major difference.
Our Lawsuit Protection Catastrophe List - Page 3:
10. Currently, the Fastest Growing Threat. And that would be the federal government. Between the years of 1985 and 1995, government seizures increased by 2,000 percent according to a congressional report. Yet, according to the government watchdog groups, 80 percent of those who have had their property seized were never charged with any crime. Scary isn't it?
The government knows most people can't afford to challenge the burdensome legal machinations of a federal agency. The notion of innocent until proven guilty has been turned upside down.
Any U.S. citizen with property or financial assets located in the United States should be aware of the threat of civil asset forfeiture. Over the past 20 years, the federal government has quietly increased its police power to confiscate your real and personal property.
All they have to do is allege that the target asset was somehow used or involved in some ambiguous criminal activity and the asset can be seized without notice. You may be tempted to dismiss this threat as something reserved only for drug dealers and money-laundering criminals. But I urge you to beware and use this legal research guide to help you take the necessary steps to protect yourself NOW!
I really do need this...
Benefits of Asset Protection
Is Total Peace of Mind
My research wouldn't be thorough and right on the money if I didn't acknowledge that most people DO have liability insurance. For their business or professions. On their homeowners insurance policies. Maybe additional "umbrella" coverage. And well they should.
But the truth of the matter is, in most lawsuits that I've had knowledge of and have seen, your coverage may not be enough. Beside the fact that liability insurance can be quite expensive, when people know that you have assets, they come after you with a vengeance that words cannot describe.
These legal extortionists along with their attorneys will usually ask for more than the coverage you have OR hope that you will bend under extreme pressure to settle out of court in cash or with assets you have to simply avoid huge legal court costs. Either way, they've got you where they want you.
Others have trusts, LLCs and Family Limited Partnerships. The latter of the three was being touted as an ironclad asset protection device. But as most experienced lawyers know, this type of device is routinely pierced by simply convincing a judge that this was an illegal sham or that they were being used for wrong doing, thus allowing one's assets to be seized.
Let me repeat this important point: These are NOT solid asset protection entities - they are merely steps in the right direction. Sad to say though, it too often lends a false sense of security to people. So, don't be fooled.
The right type of asset protection plan is useful for both the professional and ordinary person like you and me! Try to think of it as putting a "bulletproof vest" around your financial heart.
ASSET PROTECTION tailored to the individual uses a combination of tested, proven, legal tools to again "bulletproof" your vital assets against all these types of lawsuits, like family disputes, IRS or FTC attacks. The tools that are the most successful are carefully and thoroughly explained in our legal research guide entitled:
Lawsuit Protection:
Because ONE Shot May Be All You Ever Get.
This detailed legal guide contains the blood, sweat and tears of the many years of having worked and corresponded with some of the best attorneys in the United States, not to mention the endless hours of extensive AND expensive research.
This wealth of information is conveniently compiled into an easy to read and understand map of what asset protection truly is and how you can accomplish this without feeling confused and helpless. And best of all, you can put this into action at an affordable price.
So, take a moment and ponder, how much is this vital information worth to you? Let's look at it as if you were going to take time out of your busy schedule to simply have an initial consultation with an attorney on this serious subject...
Realistically, you could probably read this very specialized e-book on lawsuit and asset protection in 45 to 60 minutes. And that would be the first reading. If you're like me, I tend to read something of significant value and importance at least 2 or 3 times especially if the information pertains to several aspects of my personal and business life.
Now, I think it would be fair to say that most experienced attorneys can charge any where from $100 to $200 per hour in consultation fees alone... and usually that's just to hear what your "options" are.
Doing the math, you could easily end up spending $75 to over $200 depending of course upon the caliber of the attorney barring any indepth questions. And this doesn't count the fact that most legal situations that you're not familiar with require more than just one visit to finally take some type of reasonable action.
Keep in mind that this legal resource guide contains years of research working side by side with actual litigation and estate planning attorneys. You will possess powerful legal information at your fingertips to use wherever and whenever YOU decide to take action. But will we charge you the same $75 to $200 like most attorneys? Absolutely not!
Law Information and Lawsuit Protection
