Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell explains the difference between inside and outside liability and why it is important when determining how to hold your assets.

Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell explains under what circumstances you may trigger an International Asset Protection Trust.

Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell explains what a car is from an asset protection standpoint and what you should do with them.

Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell explains how the Family Limited Partnership and the International Asset Protection Trust work to protect your assets.

Asset Protection Attorney Douglass Lodmell explains how the legal system can and is being used to legally extort money using frivilous lawsuits and unethical tactics.

Find out what the nation’s leading expert on Asset Protection has to say to one of the nation’s top CPA’s as they discuss the hottest topic in personal planning today – Asset Protection! Find out why the United States is in a Litigation Crisis and how we got there, and discover what you can do to take yourself out of the Lawsuit Lottery! (running time: 60 minutes)

Interviewer: Tom Wheelwright, CPA
Interviewee: Douglass Lodmell, J.D., LL.M.

Attorney and legal columnist Deborah L. Jacobs promotes asset protection in the March 2005 issue of the Bloomberg Wealth Management Magazine. As she observes, “Once regarded as a shady practice, using asset-protection tools like offshore trusts to deter creditors is now considered essential to effective estate planning.”

Her article “Going Under Cover” details the uses of asset protection and goes over different strategies.

According to Jacobs, asset protection gets a bad reputation from “dead beats, scam artists, and tax evaders” even though it’s now a “mainstream” tool often used by hardworking individuals. Asset protection strategies serve these “honest folks” preserve wealth.

It protects against risks when their malpractice won’t, whether it’s from “errors-and-omissions” or items too “prohibitive to cover because of rising insurance costs.” In the case of one couple, it helped them survive a lawsuit stemming from their small business. She cites a couple putting almost a third of their income into offshore and domestic trusts. The trusts contained about $30 million in assets. A few years later they sold their business. Only a $300 million trade-secrets lawsuit caught them by surprise. As Jacobs writes,”With their asset-protection plan in place, they were able to settle for a nominal sum.”She describes limited liability companies as one of the “favored asset protection vehicles” - to use with their estate planning.

ffshore trusts are recommended as “the ultimate in asset protection.” They give a “tactical advantage.” Outside the border, these trusts are created in countries favorable to the individual, and not in countries that can take away their assets. Not being subjected to the United States jurisdiction provides a better opportunity to protect their assets in such a way.

She also points out the “mixed reviews” of offshore trusts in recent years. Jacobs explains, its “because of several notorious cases in which people who were already in legal trouble put assets offshore and basically thumbed their noses at the U.S. courts.” Yet she’s also quick to note some experts regard them as just a few “sleazy characters who made a bad impression on judges and gave offshore trusts a bad name.”Individuals looking into asset protection should proceed with caution. Jacobs advises being wary of strategies with alternative purposes, “whether it’s to save income or estate taxes or maximize opportunities.” For a practice once regarded as “shady,” Jacobs and Bloomberg Wealth Management magazine makes it clear, asset protection offers the doctor or businessman next door an honest and effective estate planning.Check out Jacobs’ article online at: http://wealth.bloomberg.com

Contributed by Rosie Cisneros

If you’re an avid reader of the Wall Street Journal, then undoubtedly you read two recent articles promoting the benefits of services offered at Lodmell & Lodmell.

In the Tuesday, October 14, 2003 Wall Street Journal issue, the article, “Litigation Boom Spurs Efforts to Shield Assets” was published. The article by Rachel Emma Silverman discussed the benefits of the offshore Asset Protection Trust. As the one legal way to shield assets from creditors in case of litigation, Silverman reported that more doctors and executives are turning to Asset Protection Trusts.

Silverman also pointed to a recent survey conducted by Price & Associates of individuals with at least $1 million in assets. More than 35 percent had some form of asset protection already in place and more than 61 percent of those without an Asset Protection Trust were interested in creating one.

The article also discussed the costs associated with Asset Protection Trusts. According to the Wall Street Journal, most offshore asset protection trusts can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 to set up, plus annual administrative fees from $2,000 to $5,000. As one of the leaders in asset protection, the folks at L&L were equally shocked considering our Offshore Protection Trusts are $8,200 with an annual administrative fee of $450.

Later the same week, another article appeared in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Employee’s Right to Sue Dwindling in New Era” by Kathy Chu. In this article, Ms. Chu reported that employers and corporations are quickly adopting workplace arbitration agreements requiring employees to seek arbitration when a grievance arises instead of filing a lawsuit. This arbitration clause is similar to the arbitration agreement included in Lodmell & Lodmell’s Workplace Protection Package.

“It’s a movement that has gained ground over the past decade” reported Chu and added that the number of employees covered by workplace arbitration plans administered by the American Arbitration Association has more than doubled from 3 million to 7 million.

The article also reported that some corporations such as Circuit City Stores Inc., Daimler Chryler and the CIGNA Corp. have adopted the arbitration policies not only for employees, but for all vendor contracts.

For more information on L&L’s Asset Protection Trust or Workplace Protection Package products, please call (800) 231-7112 or visit the L&L website at

www.lodmell.com

Contributed by Rosie Cisneros

If I lose my case, I’ll just file for bankruptcy.” We hear that statement often from scared doctors, trying to fool themselves out of needing asset protection. Most of these doctors, unfortunately, don’t understand U.S. and state bankruptcy laws. Most believe that if a huge lawsuit comes their way, they can simply declare bankruptcy, have the judgment forgotten and continue their normal life.

Besides the damage to one’s credit and the rebuilding process that would ensue over the next seven years, there are many consequences originating from federal and state bankruptcy rules that govern a person’s lifestyle. For example, federal bankruptcy rules state that a married couple can have $34,850 in home equity after bankruptcy. Chances are, as a successful medical professional, you have more equity in your home than that. Be prepared to sell the house, give the profits to your debtors and move into an apartment. It may be easy to declare bankruptcy and avoid paying off a lawsuit debt, but we guarantee that it will be difficult having to change the lifestyle your family has become accustomed to.

The bankruptcy exemption rules are very specific about business “tools of the trade”. A successful doctor may have a thriving practice with a state-of-the-art office. But if that doctor declares bankruptcy, all the “tools of the trade” will be sold off to debtors except for $1,750 according to Federal laws. What type of doctor’s office can be run with just $1,750 in equipment?

Each state has their own bankruptcy exemptions and these take the place of federal exemptions where applicable. Lucky doctors in Texas and Florida get to keep their home after declaring bankruptcy no matter what the value.

The chart to the right shows Arizona Bankruptcy exemptions and generally, Arizona is very lenient compared to most states. For most successful professionals, declaring bankruptcy will drastically alter their lives.

After learning of these rules, most of our clients come to the understanding that it will be better for the happiness of their family to utilize asset protection to protect wealth instead of giving it up through bankruptcy. Before considering bankruptcy as an option, please consult with an attorney specialist in your state.

AZ Bankruptcy Exemptions

What you get to keep if you file bankruptcy to avoid lawsuit debt
Arizona is used as an example because it is one of the few U.S. states to have very lenient bankruptcy rules.

The following dollar amounts are based on a single individual filing for bankruptcy.

Sole amounts may be doubled (such as clothing) if a couple is filing.

What You Can Keep After Bankruptcy

Contributed by Rosie Cisneros

With the prospect of at least 10,000 medical malpractice lawsuits a year and the continuation of soaring insurance premiums, what’s a physician to do?

By 2001, the total price tag for medical malpractice litigation in America zoomed to a whopping $21-billion - twice what it was 10 years earlier and 20 times what it was in 1975.

Malpractice costs have become so expensive that more and more physicians are seeking alternatives wherever they can find them. Some are so angry and frustrated by soaring insurance premiums that they are going “bare,” foregoing costly insurance - relying instead, in some cases, on the threat of bankruptcy to bail them out of any hefty patient claims. This is a risky choice, indeed.

Going “bare,” especially when it comes to medical malpractice insurance, has never seemed advisable. Certainly, insurance has played an important part in our healthcare system since the courts began assessing blame for patient complaints and providing recourse for damages.

On the one hand, managed care has drastically reduced the earning power of most medical professionals. On the other hand, what physicians face is a very real threat of out-of-control lawsuits and ridiculously high jury awards. Meanwhile, squeezing the economic equation from the other side are the insurance carriers that once (but no longer) relied upon stock market advances to cushion their losses.

The net effect of all these economic factors has been skyrocketing insurance premiums, which seemingly defy justification.

In some states, general practice physicians, with no surgery and no claims, have seen increases on the order of 300-500 percent in one year alone - a drop in the bucket compared to what some physicians with riskier specialties have seen in recent years.

There are two distinct malpractice insurance coverages: indemnity and defense.

“Indemnity” refers to policy limits. A policy limit of $1,000,000/$3,000,000 means that the insurance company is obligated to pay out in a settlement or award $1,000,000 per incident and $3,000,000 in the aggregate. “Defense,” on the other hand, is the cost of defending the claim from inception through trial and appeal, if necessary. Together these costs can be staggering, which is why an insurance company always considers both factors when deciding whether to settle or fight a claim.

Therefore, before opting to self-insure, physicians should carefully weigh the cost of current and future malpractice coverage against the cost of fighting a lawsuit alone.

There are other factors to consider. For example, many hospitals require that physicians maintain a certain level of insurance to receive staff privileges. Physicians also should be concerned with state requirements regarding indemnification, when considering self-insurance. The state of Florida, for example, requires doctors to post a $250,000 bond and must be available to satisfy a claim - that isn’t much considering the annual cost of malpractice insurance alone can be upwards of $100,000 or more for certain medical specialties.

If there were a loss in Florida, then the $250,000 posted bond would be used to satisfy the judgment. But what happens if the judgment is $2,000,000, and there is no insurance coverage? The physician would have to pay the excess out of personal assets - $1,750,000 - assuming the physician had no other alternative available.

But there is an available alternative. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Many of the doctors dropping malpractice insurance are sheltering assets in sophisticated trusts or partnerships, safely out of reach from legal judgments down the road.”

With a properly structured asset protection plan, the excess amount of any judgment would likely not come from the physician’s personal assets. In fact, with an asset protection plan in place, assuming there are no other defendants or insurance companies involved, there may be no award or judgment at all. The presence of an asset protection plan in and of itself may be sufficient to deter litigation in the first place.

But even before worrying about paying a judgment, the uninsured MD still has to put up a defense against a claim. Costs just to answer a claim and begin the legal defense process could easily start with a retainer of $10,000-$20,000 - and could be much more, depending on the type of case.

From there on out, the costs would build as long as the case goes on. If it is settled early, the financial bleeding could then stop. If not and a trial ensues, defense costs could easily amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Another insurance option is available in some states that can offset potential defense costs. It’s called a “defense only” policy. At least one company in Florida is writing a policy that provides $100,000 in defense insurance costs. The premium is $5,000 a year. Such a policy, when combined with a solid asset protection plan, could give a physician a great deal of comfort knowing that the vast majority of his or her assets would likely be safe from litigation.

So what should a physician do? In states where insurance costs are still manageable and claims remain under control, malpractice insurance - expensive though it may be - is still the best first line of defense against potential litigation.

In those states where malpractice costs are soaring beyond reach and bonding is permissible, “going bare” is certainly an option for careful consideration, assuming there are no ethical concerns involved.

Under either circumstance, however, anyone seriously concerned about securing personal assets from possible litigation should consider establishing a strong asset protection plan. A properly drafted Family Limited Partnership (FLP) combined with an International Asset Protection Trust (APT) is still the most secure way to ensure that the courts will not leave you and your bank accounts truly bare.

Having said that, like everyone else in America, physicians are vulnerable to a great many other types of lawsuits besides those involving malpractice. One can be sued for discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and a myriad of other complaints. In fact, doctors are twice as likely to be hit with a sexual discrimination award than a judgment for medical malpractice!

Therefore, it is our opinion that no individual should go without some level of liability coverage - nor should anyone be lulled into believing that such coverage will provide enough protection to do the whole job. This is why an asset protection plan - which deters all kinds of litigation - is so important.

Contributed by Rosie Cisneros

On June 13, 2004, USA Today reported that hospital administrators and doctors across the nation have begun “striking back against lawyers with hardball tactics that, in some cases, are raising ethical questions.”

According to the USA Today news story, “Some doctors are refusing to treat lawyers, their families and their employees, except in emergencies.” One doctor was quoted as saying that while the idea of refusing to treat lawyers “may be repulsive,” it is justified and necessary. As to whether the notion runs counter to the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors, the Charleston, S.C. surgeon, said, “Physicians are not bound to treat everybody who walks through their door.”

It is likely that the nationwide dispute between doctors and lawyers will grow increasingly bitter and, some might say, downright spiteful. Here are just a few examples of the trend as cited in the USA Today report.

One Texas medical center recently fired a highly-skilled nurse - despite a nationwide shortage of nursing help - because her husband works for a law firm that litigates medical malpractice cases. The fact that her husband practices in a different field of law made no difference. The hospital, according to the news story, has an “unwritten” rule of not employing spouses of lawyers who represent plaintiffs in medical malpractice or personal injury lawsuits “because of the perceived likelihood of a conflict of interest.”

Elsewhere in the country, a Texas radiologist attempted to discourage frivolous lawsuits by setting up a national database of patients and lawyers who have sued for malpractice. The site was shut down soon thereafter when some of those listed complained about having difficulty securing needed medical care.

Perhaps the best summation of what’s going on in medicine today was made by an emergency care physician, Dr. Bruce Bonanno, who warned that without tort reform, “The system’s going to die.” Another physician described the healthcare situation as “a ticking time bomb.”

The scariest scenario of all came last February when thousands of New Jersey doctors walked out of hospitals and closed down offices in support of tort reform legislation. The president-elect of the Camden County Medical Society said that this protest was just a “peek into the future” of what can be expected unless there is real tort reform.

His meaning was clear. Without tort reform and realistic limitations on malpractice liability, the outlook for healthcare in America is grim and growing grimmer.

Contributed by Rosie Cisneros

Hacking is no longer just a hobby for the computer savvy. In fact your computer might not be involved at all.

If you own a cell phone, there’s a chance you could be targeted. Hackers can now steal numbers from your cell phone book or even listen to your voice mail, thanks to spoofing.

It works by simply taking advantage of user settings. While most cell phones have codes securing personal services like voice mail and other administrative tools, many also utilize a “skip password” service. Calls coming from that phone number bypass inputting the password to access the administrative tools.

Phone services sometimes assure subscribers only their number allows them access. While true, hackers use it to their advantage since caller ID authenticates the number.

They spoof caller ID to create the appearance it’s your number calling the service - tricking it. That way no password is needed and the hacker has access to your phone’s administrative tools.

As some Internet sites claim, it’s an easy way to check up on a girlfriend or boyfriend. Or as in the case of Paris Hilton whose voicemail and phone book were hacked earlier this year, simply knowing your phone number is enough for anyone to access your services.

Written by Administrator

Anyone promising to help you “legally” evade paying taxes is flat out lying! If you get involved in such a scheme, it’s only a matter of time. You will get burned!

If you have established any type of Asset Management Company or Constitutional, Business, Equipment, Service, Family Residence, or Offshore Tax Trust designed to evade or decrease taxes, be aware, the IRS has created a Task Force specifically to track you down!

In fact, CLICK HERE to read about the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division’s INCARCERATION RATE for PROMOTERS and USERS of Abusive Trust Schemes for yourself!

What To Do If You Are Served With A Lawsuit Written by Administrator

It’s Friday afternoon and as your last client has left the office, you dream of your weekend getaway to your vacation home for a little relaxation time with family. Your wishes to unwind over the weekend quickly vanish, as you are served with a lawsuit at 4:45 PM.

To most of us, getting served with a lawsuit can be an extremely scary experience. With over 70,000 U.S. lawsuits being filed daily, it’s possible that every one of us will be served at least once during our lifetime.

This issue feature is dedicated to those first hours after you are served and provides some helpful hints.

First Response Tips

If the lawsuit involves a patient, try to reach your malpractice carrier even though it’s Friday night. If you do get a hold of your carrier, chances are they will collect all the information and assign an attorney to you. They will also tell you many of the following points detailed below.

If the case doesn’t involve malpractice, you must find a local attorney. If you already have one and he or she can be reached at night, by all means, make that call. If not, you might have to wait until Monday morning.

In either event, it is imperative that you follow the below suggestions to keep yourself as far away from the litigation fires as possible.

Keep quiet.

Do not discuss the case with anyone except your attorney, including staff members, colleagues, friends or relatives.

Avoid the enemy.

Do not contact the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney even if the attorney asks you to do so “in order to avoid a lawsuit.” Wait to discuss the case until you have legal representation. Any contact must be between your attorney and the plaintiff’s attorney.

Create a “legal” file.

Locate all the information regarding this lawsuit including your insurance policy documents and contact numbers, BUT NOT the patient or employee file. After creating this file, make sure to document every call and action.

Locate the patient or employee file.

Locate and review the appropriate files, but DO NOT change or alter them. The worst thing you can do is alter the records, even if it’s for an innocent reason such as making the handwriting more legible. Any alteration can be viewed as an attempt to deceive.

Also, make sure you DO NOT keep the patient’s file with your “legal File” as the patient’s record may be subpoenaed. If the two files are together, your legal file will be included.

Keep a positive mental attitude.

I know it will be difficult, but it’s important to keep a positive mental attitude after being sued. Believe it or not, there is a widely-recognized affliction called the “Medical Malpractice Stress Syndrome” and it is important to realize that it’s not beneficial to you, your family, your practice or your case to get angry, irritable or suffer from anxiety.

In closing, remember that it’s best to handle a lawsuit like any other business transaction — get professionals involved and let them do their job for you.