Asset Protection
The best time to build an asset protection plan is before you need one.
For executives with significant personal wealth, the question is not whether you will face a lawsuit, a regulatory action, or a creditor claim. It is when. We build layered legal structures that place your assets beyond reach before any threat materializes.
The Exposure
High-net-worth individuals face disproportionate legal risk
If your net worth exceeds $8 million, you are a target. Plaintiff attorneys screen defendants by their ability to pay. Disgruntled business partners, ex-spouses, former employees, and opportunistic litigants know that individuals with visible wealth are more likely to settle claims, even meritless ones, simply to make the problem go away.
Insurance alone is insufficient. Umbrella policies have exclusions, coverage limits, and can be exhausted by a single catastrophic judgment. True asset protection requires legal structures that remove assets from your personal balance sheet entirely, placing them in entities and trusts that creditors cannot easily access.
The distinction between planning proactively and reacting to a threat is the difference between a defensible structure and a fraudulent transfer. Courts routinely set aside asset protection measures taken after a claim is foreseeable. The time to act is now.
Our Approach
Layered protection designed for your specific risk profile
Effective asset protection is never a single document or entity. It is a coordinated system of trusts, LLCs, and legal structures designed to create multiple barriers between your wealth and potential claimants, while maintaining the access and flexibility you need.
We begin with a comprehensive analysis of your assets, liabilities, business interests, and risk exposures. From there, we design a multi-layered plan that may include domestic trusts, offshore vehicles, entity structuring, and strategic titling, all coordinated with your financial advisor and CPA to ensure tax efficiency and operational practicality.
Every structure we create is designed to withstand judicial scrutiny. We document legitimate purposes, maintain strict formalities, and ensure that transfers are made with adequate consideration and well in advance of any foreseeable claims.
Key Instruments
The Tools We Use to Protect Your Wealth
Irrevocable Trusts
Once assets are transferred into an irrevocable trust, they are generally no longer considered part of your personal estate. This separation creates a legal barrier between your wealth and potential creditors, lawsuits, or judgments. Unlike revocable trusts, these vehicles offer genuine asset protection because you have relinquished dominion and control over the transferred property.
Cook Islands Asset Protection Trusts
The Cook Islands is widely regarded as the most protective offshore trust jurisdiction in the world. Its International Trusts Act does not recognize foreign judgments, imposes a one-year statute of limitations on fraudulent transfer claims (measured from the date of transfer), and places the burden of proof on creditors to demonstrate fraudulent intent beyond a reasonable doubt. For executives with significant exposure, a Cook Islands APT can serve as the final layer of a comprehensive protection strategy.
Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs)
Nineteen states now permit self-settled asset protection trusts, allowing you to be both the grantor and a beneficiary while shielding trust assets from future creditors. States like Nevada, South Dakota, and Delaware offer particularly favorable statutes with short fraudulent transfer lookback periods, no exception creditor provisions, and strong privacy protections. DAPTs are often appropriate when offshore planning is unnecessary or undesirable.
LLC & Entity Structuring
Strategic use of limited liability companies creates compartmentalization between your assets. Charging order protection in favorable jurisdictions means a creditor who obtains a judgment against you personally cannot seize LLC-held assets directly. They can only obtain a lien on distributions. Multi-entity structures, when properly maintained, ensure that a liability event in one area of your life does not cascade into others.
Medicaid Planning
Long-term care costs can erode even substantial wealth. Through irrevocable Medicaid asset protection trusts established well in advance of any health event, we can help preserve assets for your family while positioning you for Medicaid eligibility if long-term care becomes necessary. The five-year lookback period makes early planning essential.
Frequently Asked Questions
Asset Protection Questions from Executives
What is an irrevocable trust?
An irrevocable trust is a legal arrangement in which the grantor permanently transfers assets out of their personal estate and into a trust managed by a trustee. Unlike a revocable trust, the grantor cannot unilaterally amend, modify, or revoke the trust once it is established. This irrevocability is precisely what provides the asset protection benefit: because you no longer own or control the assets, they are generally beyond the reach of your personal creditors. Irrevocable trusts also remove the transferred assets from your taxable estate, potentially reducing estate tax liability.
How do Cook Islands trusts work?
A Cook Islands asset protection trust is established under the Cook Islands International Trusts Act with a Cook Islands-registered trustee. You transfer assets to the trust, which is governed by Cook Islands law regardless of where the assets are physically located. The jurisdiction does not recognize or enforce foreign court judgments, meaning a U.S. creditor with a judgment cannot simply domesticate it in the Cook Islands. Creditors must file a new action in Cook Islands courts and prove fraudulent transfer beyond a reasonable doubt within a one-year statute of limitations. These structural protections make it extraordinarily difficult for creditors to reach trust assets.
Can I still access my assets in an irrevocable trust?
This depends on how the trust is structured. In many irrevocable trusts, the trustee has discretion to make distributions to beneficiaries, which can include you in certain structures such as DAPTs. The key distinction is between access and control. You may receive distributions at the trustee's discretion, but you do not have the right to demand them. An experienced estate planning attorney can design trust provisions that balance meaningful access with the legal separation necessary for creditor protection. The more control you retain, however, the weaker the protection may be in a contested situation.
When should I set up asset protection?
The single most important principle in asset protection is timing. Transfers made after a claim arises, or when a claim is reasonably foreseeable, can be challenged as fraudulent transfers and unwound by a court. The best time to implement asset protection is when there are no existing or threatened claims against you. For executives, this means establishing structures during stable periods, ideally years before any potential liability event. Courts and creditors scrutinize the timing of transfers heavily, and proactive planning is always more defensible than reactive measures.
What is a DAPT?
A Domestic Asset Protection Trust is a self-settled spendthrift trust permitted under the laws of certain U.S. states. Unlike traditional irrevocable trusts where you cannot be a beneficiary, a DAPT allows you to transfer assets into an irrevocable trust, name yourself as a discretionary beneficiary, and still receive protection from future creditors. Currently, nineteen states authorize DAPTs, with Nevada, South Dakota, and Delaware offering the strongest protections. You do not need to reside in the state where the DAPT is established; you simply need a trustee located in that jurisdiction. DAPTs typically have a fraudulent transfer lookback period of two to four years, after which the protection is considered fully vested.
Your assets are exposed until they are protected.
Schedule a confidential consultation to assess your current risk profile and explore the strategies that make sense for your specific situation. The conversation is private. The planning is proactive.