The Contingency Lawyer Wants Your Assets!
Imagine a city in the US with a population of one million people. Now imagine that each of those one million people is a lawyer. The mind boggles!
For the city to prosper, its residents need to be gainfully employed and so to achieve that, this horde of lawyers launches a reported ninety million lawsuits each and every year against the citizenry of other US cities.
Staggering in its scope isn’t it!
It is said that the US has by far the largest number of lawyers of any nation and it follows that the US also has by far the greatest volume of litigation activity compared to any other nation on earth.
In fact the US is litigation heaven for lawyers, hordes of whom are churned out of US universities each year, each with a license to sue.
One million lawyers!
Now I am sure that many of these good folk justify their existence admirably by deciphering legalese that was probably produced in jargon just to defeat the average person and to provide employment for said good folk but there is another class of lawyer that prowls the land that you need to take special note of.
You especially need to take heed if you have accumulated any serious assets because this class of lawyers specialises in relieving people like you of part or all of your assets for the benefit of anyone who would like to take a run at you.
The ingredients needed for a litigant are these: the sum of $150 in registration fees and a lawyer who will take the case on a contingency basis.
The contingency arrangement with the lawyer is simply that the opportunist does not need to pay the lawyer up front as he agrees that the lawyer can keep a third of whatever they together can get out of you.
So all an opportunist needs to invest in shaking you down is the princely sum of $150 and that’s it!
As this article is being written there are thousands of lawyers taking on cases that are nothing short of a shakedown of innocent people who have done nothing except fail to take the necessary steps to protect their assets. These lawyers know that there is a good chance that they will settle out of court just to be rid of the hassle and if they don’t---well there is a good chance the courts will award damages against them anyway.
The stories of fanciful and peculiar damages awards by US courts are legion.
Consider the woman who was awarded damages against a fast food outlet because the coffee she spilled on herself was too hot-------- etc etc!
Yes. It is a fact that if you have been successful in accumulating serious assets you have become a target. The more you make your wealth obvious, the sooner some opportunist will try to relieve you of some or all of it.
So it becomes imperative that you with assets to protect start creating privacy and protection around those assets if you intend to keep them.
Ignoring or procrastinating around this issue produces only one loser and that is you.
Forget all the offers of Nevada Corporations and “bullet proof” trusts that purport to protect your assets because they will not.
Forget thinking that there is any privacy attached to your onshore banking because there is not.
The solution lies offshore in a competently designed asset protection structure and it is on this upon which many eyes are now focussing.
For generations the wealthy of Europe have viewed asset protection as vital and out of that need grew the offshore financial centers like Liechtenstein and structures such as the Anstalt which while very expensive proved virtually impregnable against attack and therefore worth every penny of the cost.
These offshore centres still provide this valuable service to those who have the forethought to protect their assets.
The key here is to arrange matters so that you pass ownership of assets to an offshore entity but continue to enjoy their benefits.
That is why many a fine European chateau is owned by a structure offshore while the same family continues to enjoy residence within for generations.
For North Americans the Anstalt equivalent is available much closer to home, is far cheaper and just as powerful.
Here is a scenario worth pondering.
Let’s say someone with assets of three million dollars was feeling the weight of it and decided he wanted to create a protective offshore structure and place one of the three millions in it. Just in case!
The cost of a good competent structure would cost from $5 to $8,000 to create. Structures are offered for less however they may not be very competent!
Thereafter a curtain of privacy would descend around that money offshore and most of our million lawyers would not bother attacking that structure because they know they will probably not prevail and one third of nothing is still nothing on their contingency agreement!
It cost you $5-$8,000 to protect a million and let it grow unmolested while you sleep in peace. Cheap insurance really.
All is not lost to the million lawyers though as they still have your other two million to target! However much of that can be protected too--- but that will be the subject of another article!
The author has been involved in the financial arena for most of his adult life, latterly as the CEO of a successful financial services company which he sold a decade ago to devote his time to advising a select group of clients in prudent and cautious uses of offshore structuring. He has traveled extensively among many offshore jurisdictions over a span of 25 years and acquired hands on experience together with high quality contacts and resources in the better jurisdictions. He provides consulting services and can be reached at http://www.offshoreandprivate.com
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