How International Asset Protection Can Help Your Business

Not surprisingly, most of America’s major corporations have international entities.  And no less conspicuous are the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people worried about litigation and loss of their wealth.

They want the best protection, and they find it internationally.  For instance, one advantage of international asset protection is that fraudulently transferred assets within the U.S.  are recoverable through the U.S.  courts, which have jurisdiction over these assets, but US courts lack jurisdiction over international assets.  This makes the assets far more protected – this point is important.  You never know when someone will raise claims from the past.

International asset protection is increasingly popular and will continue to grow in importance and popularity, because financial and legal professionals want stronger protection for their clients.  Unfortunately, too many lawyers still rely entirely on domestic asset protection strategies when their clients’ money would be considerably safer internationally.  That’s why we often protect our wealthier clients by blending domestic and international strategies.

We use the domestic strategies to shelter their U.S.-based assets, such as real estate and their business, and their international entities protect their nest egg and liquid investments.  This combination creates the most effective, overall, protection.

International Financial Centers provide powerful debtor protection, because they impose many legal and procedural obstacles, which few creditors can overcome.  One example is their shorter statute of limitations (one or two years) to challenge asset transfers internationally.

Another obstacle is that creditors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a transfer internationally was fraudulent, which is a very difficult standard to overcome.  Nevis is a particularly strong asset protection jurisdiction and it makes the creditor post a cash bond before the creditor can sue.

Another roadblock is that a creditor must hire local counsel on a fee-only basis as contingent fees aren’t allowed.  Moreover, a judgment creditor must sue anew in the international jurisdiction as these asset protection centers do not recognize or enforce US judgments.  We can continue and cite many other reasons why international protection is so formidable.

In sum, people who go internationally with their money are those with enough wealth to make it worthwhile, with at least $500,000 or more.  These people rightfully want appreciably stronger protection than domestic or U.S.-based entities can provide.

Please visit my website or contact me directly if you would like any more information regarding Asset Protection or Estate Planning, or would like a copy of my best-selling books on Asset Protection.