          
          
          
             ASSET PROTECTION TRUSTS CAN BE FREE OF INCOME TAX
          
          
               One of the unhappy facts of financial life in our
          lawsuit-happy society is the increasing danger of being
          sued.  And if you should have the misfortune to wind up
          on the receiving end of some courtroom debacle, it
          could easily cost you your life savings.
               One of the best ways to protect yourself against
          such a calamity is to have an asset protection plan in
          advance of any problems.  In the process of doing so,
          many people are discovering that they can eliminate
          most income taxes through the proper use of offshore
          trusts, corporations, and annuities.  Tax planning
          alone may not have caused them to examine these
          techniques, but the fear of losing everything they have
          built up over a lifetime has driven them to investigate
          alternatives.  
               Creating an asset protection plan is not
          expensive, and provides a great deal of assurance that
          you and your family will have the benefit of the money
          you have built up through years of work.  Asset
          protection plans are a relatively new area of law,
          prepared by lawyers who specialize in protecting what
          you own instead of in suing people.
               Asset protection is different from traditional
          retirement or estate planning.  It is the systematic
          and integrated protection of your family and business
          from risk.
               Most financial planning is intended to help you
          establish wealth so you can retire, and pass on as much
          of that wealth as possible to your family after death.
               Asset protection plans include estate plans but
          are intended to also help you keep your wealth while
          you are living.  They often involve legal structures
          such as family limited partnerships, children's trusts,
          exempt assets, offshore trust arrangements and living
          trusts.
               More lawsuits are being filed today than at any
          time in history, and the top 80 percent of wage earners
          in the United States will be sued an average of five
          times during their lifetimes.  Other situations include
          bankruptcy filings, taxation, insurance company
          failures or bank financing. 
               Many small businesses are finding that critical
          financing is being pulled out from under businesses
          that are current in their loan payments simply because
          their bank has been sold or merged and no longer wants
          that type of loan.
               If someone slips and falls in a business, or if a
          car taps their car's rear end, they react like they
          just won the lottery.  If an armed thug breaks into a
          home in the dead of night, slips on a child's marbles,
          and breaks a leg, he can sue and likely win.
               A small construction firm is having its monthly
          partners meeting.  They send out for pizza.  Their
          secretary decides to go pick it up.  Unknown to the
          partners this person has a horrible driving record.  On
          the way back the secretary runs into a group of
          pedestrians.  The police arrive.  The secretary eats
          the pizza and the partners are sued.  A judge decides
          that they are liable as the secretary was performing an
          act for the partners in her ordinary course of
          employment.  The jury, sympathetic to the victims and
          enraged by the driving record, awards several million
          in damages.  As partners, all of the owners are jointly
          liable for payment.  In effect, the jury has awarded
          the plaintiffs three condos, two sail boats, three
          houses, nine cars, and twelve installment notes to pay
          the balance over a lifetime.
               A land speculator bought a parcel for subdivision,
          held it for one week and sold it to a developer. 
          Later, after houses were built, a homeowner who was an
          environmental engineer noticed an old buried drum.  It
          contained a deadly toxin.  The Environmental Protection
          Agency held the site to be a "superfund" site.  The
          largest law firm in the world, Uncle Sam, began an
          action against the landowners.  The suit brought in the
          land speculator.  Although the total invested was only
          $100,000, the liability exceeded $30,000,000.  Under
          the law this can never be discharged in bankruptcy. 
          The builder and the developer collapsed, leaving the
          individual land speculator with an overwhelming
          judgment.
               Asset protection plans are not only for the
          wealthy.  An asset protection plan can be relevant if
          you drive a car, have children, own a business or
          simply want to pay less taxes.  It can come into action
          in the event of an auto accident, if someone injures
          himself at your business, or possibly in the case of a
          divorce.
               Asset protection plans are fully legal.  It is not
          something for people who might want to avoid the law or
          their responsibilities.  The law is clear as to what is
          permissible and what is not.  Asset protection simply
          gives protection against unfair lawsuits and gives a
          level playing field to operate from.
               The goal is to structure the plan so you never
          have to misrepresent yourself or worry about the
          legality of the plan.
               The best way to do this is to seek the assistance
          of professionals, and there is now a firm that works
          with clients from all over the country.  They can also
          work with your existing lawyers or accountants if you
          wish.  For a free information package write to: 
               Asset Protection Corporation 
               Suite 201A 
               14418 Old Mill Road 
               Upper Marlboro, Maryland 20772. 
          
               People set up an asset protection plan to keep
          what they own, but in the process of planning, when
          they learn that there are ways they can accomplish
          protection and tax avoidance, they gain a degree of
          financial freedom.  Even asset protection plans that
          are totally domestic can reduce or eliminate taxation,
          through such devices as income splitting by creating
          family limited partnerships, or the tax-deferral of
          annuities.
          
          
          
