A lot of my students have questions along the following lines:

I have several properties that have Freddie or Fannie mortgages on them. Can I move them to separate legal entities in order to get some asset protection? What will this do to the mortgages?

Holding properties in separate legal entities is a good idea for asset protection purposes. The common scenario is to hold them in various land trusts. It doesn’t matter who the beneficiaries of the land trusts are, if they are the standard revocable land trusts that everybody uses, they will not give you any asset protection. There is the possibility that you can get some anonymity out of using the land trusts. That is a very small advantage, in my thinking. Your tenants, contractors, and everyone associated with the properties know who you are already. The only thing you are hiding is property from a general search for property ownership in the recorder’s office. The fact that you don’t show up as owning a bunch of properties might save you from a frivolous lawsuit, but most lawyers don’t check the county records before they file a suit.

(more…)

I’m an attorney, not an economist, but the economy is top on my radar screen. This is a time to divide and conquer, if it is possible to survive. I have talked to some of the “big time” economists. In fact, I hosted a dinner last night for one of the world renowned consultants to governments and banks. We discussed the economy on a pretty high scale for a couple of hours. The take home message is we have a mess and NOBODY KNOWS how to fix it or what will happen. (I’m sure that’s news to you. Anyone with half a brain has figured that out already.)

How can the law help you survive? I often talk about the analogy with legal pockets. If you have all your money in your purse or wallet, and you get picked, your money is all gone. If you have taken some of your money out of your wallet and put it in your front pocket, then if you get your wallet picked, you don’t lose everything. You can create legal pockets, and with the economy in the toilet, it is more important than ever for you to start creating the pockets.

(more…)

This is more of a personal blog. I have spoken live to well over a million people, and many of my “seminar friends” know that I have spent many months of my life in the hospital. I did one 6 month stretch with much of it being in an isolation room. My 5 year old granddaughter was fine last Thursday, but by Friday late morning she was headed to the hospital with spinal meningitis. When I caught up with her after lunch she was being drug around in a wagon for tests.

Her mother had made the decision to get her to a doctor about 10am. She went to a family doctor that was covering for her normal family doctor. She had decided not to go to the pediatrician, because his answer had always been, “let’s wait and see.” There wasn’t much fever (only 102), but there was a bad headache and it hurt to move her head or sit up. My daughter, wife, and I had made the diagnosis before the doctor was seen, and we suspected this wasn’t a “let’s wait and see” moment.

(more…)