1. Waiting too long to start planning. The longer your asset protection plan has been in place, the stronger it will be. It will also cost less to do the planning long before you have a problem. Once a lawsuit has been filed against you, any transfers you make can be overturned. In order to battle a lawsuit effectively, make sure you have an asset protection plan in place long before you need it.
2. Mistakenly committing fraudulent transfers. If you transfer assets to a friend or family member in order to avoid losing them during a settlement, you may find it does you no good. This is not illegal, but the courts can reverse the transfer and hold the transferee partially responsible.
3. Trying to hide your assets. This is no longer possible. Even moving assets offshore does not prevent them from being discovered. Eventually, lawyers will uncover the existence of the asset. In some cases, having the asset offshore may protect it, but it will not prevent it from being discovered.
4. Assuming you can outsmart the creditors. Those trying to collect their debt and the lawyers working for them have done this before. You will not figure out a way around the system.
5. Handing control of your assets over to someone else. Often called the “poor man’s” asset protection, signing over your wealth to another person is never a good idea, even if he is a trusted friend or family member. You may have to give up some control at some point, but deciding you will protect your assets by giving them over to a sibling or adult child is a mistake. Discuss your options with an experienced asset protection attorney before proceeding.
6. Assuming asset protection and estate planning are the same thing. Asset protection is part of any strong estate plan but they are not the same thing. It is important to remember a living trust does nothing to protect you from creditors.
7. Confusing bankruptcy law and asset protection law. In a state like Florida, newer bankruptcy laws do not affect the unlimited homestead exemptions. You have less protection in bankruptcy court, so filing for bankruptcy should be used as a last resort.
8. Assuming it is too late to establish an asset protection plan. It is never to late to do this. Doing something is better than just allowing the courts to have their way with you. At least make an effort to protect your assets. You never know when you may be faced with a situation where your assets are at risk.
9. Not getting your foundation estate plan in place as part of your asset protection plan.
10. Trying to do it yourself. You only have one shot at protecting your assets correctly. Be sure to use an attorney that specializes in asset protection.

Asset protection is a necessity in this day and age of “money for nothing” mentality. Fifty million law suits are filed each year. Each of us will be sued 5 times during our lives. Will you brush your lawsuit off without worry or will one of those law suits permanently cripple you and your family financially? The time to plan is now.

With less South Florida job opportunities and an ever-increasing cost of living, many Floridians are looking for a quick fix to their financial woes.  The current recession has limited their ability to earn their own money, so they devise a plan to take yours.  We live in the most litigious society on the planet and at the most litigious time in our history.  One “get rich quick” scheme is to find a wealthy target and sue them, or at least threaten to sue them and get a fat settlement.  The probability is that 20 percent of Florida citizens will be sued at least once during their lifetime.  The numbers go up when limiting the incidents to residents of South Florida who earn over $100,000 per year.  These people are easy targets and most of them will choose to settle rather than to incur heavy legal fees and risk a bigger payout in court.

Get The Bulls-Eye Off Of Your Back!

• Doctors, lawyers and other professionals are easy targets because the general Florida public is aware of our malpractice insurance and that the law subjects us to a higher standard of liability than other service providers. 
• Real estate owners and developers of Florida properties are easy targets due to vague negligence laws when it comes to injuries that arise on property owned by another.  Moreover, Florida’s landlord-tenant laws subject property owners to a greater liability when renting units. 
• Product liability, environmental protection, and labor laws make South Florida business owners potentially liable to customers, visitors, employees and almost everyone else. 
• Securities laws and contract laws expose stockbrokers and investment advisors to claims of liability from dissatisfied investors and partners.

How Can We Avoid This Liability?

Florida’s liability laws can hurt us if we are not aware of how they work, but our laws can also help us in that they exclude certain assets from a creditor’s reach.  The laws vary from state to state as to what assets are excluded.  However, one asset excluded in every state including Florida is the ownership interest in a limited partnership or limited liability company.

Any assets that you transfer into a limited partnership will be protected from any litigation not arising directly out of that partnership.  Technically, you won’t own those assets and a judgment creditor will not be able to take them with a mere personal judgment against you.  If you have an ownership interest in that limited partnership, it will also be exempt from the creditor’s grasp under state law.  If your ownership interest is a controlling partnership interest, you will control all the assets (home, money, business) in the partnership, but you won’t own them.  Perhaps even more importantly, when your potential claimant searches for an easy target in South Florida, you won’t show up on his list since the majority of your assets will be held by corporations and not viewable to a person searching for your personal assets.   

Own Nothing.  Control Everything.

Asset protection is not a way to avoid taxes or deceive anyone.  It is merely a legal way to get that target off of your back and allow you to grow, achieve, and amass wealth without having to worry about someone else attempting to take it from you.  There are a number of ways to protect your assets, your business, and your family.  Limited partnerships and limited liability corporations are just two of them.  For more information about how to live your life and manage your business without that target on your back, please contact the South Florida asset protection attorneys of Wild Felice & Pardo, P.A. at 954-944-2855 or via email at info@wfplaw.com for more information and to schedule your free consultation.  Let us protect what you value most.