International Asset Protection Planning – the debtor’s dilemma:planning for and protecting against future judgments

Proper asset protection planning is an important consideration for clients
with significant personal assets, they wish to shelter from future legal
judgments.

There is potential for anyone with creditors in a commercial or personal
context to be subject to negative judgment, should those creditors
decide the terms of an agreement have been broken, a contract violated
or a loan payment missed. Anyone with substantial assets should plan
ahead and know how to structure them efficiently.

Residents of Florida will appreciate the following weather metaphor for
our increasingly litigious society:

If you know you live in a region prone to hurricanes you should fortify
your house to ensure it is sturdy enough to withstand the storm when it
strikes. To do nothing is to invite disaster.

With this in mind, IR Global teamed up with Miami, Florida commercial litigator Harry A. Payton, founder of Payton & Associates,
LLC, to analyse some of the most important aspects of international
asset protection planning.

Harry is a senior member of IR Global’s Private Client Working
Group. He is board certified by The Florida Bar in business litigation
and civil trial and has more than 45 years of courtroom experience
as a commercial litigator in the state of Florida. He recently chaired
a virtual round table of professionals from the Private Client Group
to discuss how asset protection planning is handled in jurisdictions
across the US and Europe.

The following discussion involves IR Global members from the United States – Florida, Texas and New York – plus the European jurisdictions of the United Kingdom, Portugal and Malta