Hey guys, Clint Coons here
and in this video, I'm going to talk about why anonymity is probably
one of your best forms of protection when it comes to lawsuits.
Okay, let's get started.
So here's the thing.
You know, a lot of people, when it comes to putting together asset protection
strategies, just don't grasp the benefit of using tools
that reduce your overall risk exposure through anonymity planning.
And what I mean by that is not putting your name on assets.
So when you hold title to certain types of assets,
if there is an opportunity for you
to get your name off there and use some other entity
or some form of title holding,
then what you're doing is you're reducing your footprint.
And that footprint is so important when it comes to attorneys
who are wondering, hey, do I take on client or do I take on client B wolf?
Client B, the person that injured them has very deep pockets.
That's where I want to put my interest.
Whereas if I'm dealing with an individual, when I perform an asset search
and I don't see any assets in their name, I think, well, there's no payday there.
Or if there is, I'm not going to spend a lot of time because
what I'm going to do is end up just settling for their policy limits
or trying to extract as much money as I can from the insurance company.
And that's what anonymity planning, if set up right can do for you,
how it can benefit you. It's not asset protection.
Meaning if you get sued
and they get a judgment against you, they're going to pull back the curtain
and they're going to see who's behind all of this.
The whole idea, with anonymity planning, is to put you in a position
so that if somebody is considering suing you,
they're not going to pursue it very aggressively
because they don't know what you have or the fact that you even own the asset.
One of the terms we like to use is you can't sue
what you can't see, and that's what a planning can do for you.
So what do you want to do then, if you're looking to create an anonymity?
How do you go about owning certain types of assets anonymously?
Well, it's really quite simple.
If you understand the concepts of how business entities are set up.
So, for example, if I'm going to set up a business, if I want to set up an LLC
and I want it to be anonymous and I'm running this business
in, let's say the state is Texas.
So if I could set up a Texas LLC, just go and set that one up.
But the problem is,
if I set up that Texas LLC, the money is going to be all over it.
I may be listed as the organizer.
I might be listed as a registered agent.
If I made that mistake,
I'm going to be listed as a manager of that limited liability company.
In some states.
I'll even be listed as the member.
So check, check, check, Clint. All over it.
You want to know who's involved in this limited liability company?
All you got to do is pull up the secretary of state's website
and you get my information. You can find out where I live from there.
It makes it real easy to sue and then look at everything else that I own.
Whereas consider this
you have another investor business owner that wants to create a business.
They don't start with a Texas LLC.
Instead, they watch some of my videos
and they decide to start with a Wyoming limited liability company.
So they set this entity up first.
And the reason they do that is they choose
a state that doesn't collect any information.
Now, Wyoming, Delaware, several states are you can set up entities like this
where when you set it up, it doesn't ask
who is the manager, who is the member of the LLC?
They don't ask for that, so it doesn't get disclosed anywhere.
So you can own this LLC and no one's going to know it.
Now the key here is that, again, you can't set this up on your own.
You have to use a third party because they will ask,
who is the manager of this entity or who?
I mean, excuse me, who is the organizer that will have to be disclosed.
And if you're filling out the paperwork, that's going to be you.
So you set this one up first.
Once you get this entity set up, then you create this entity up here again.
You're going to have to use
a third party to do this because they have to submit the paperwork on your behalf.
But this LLC points to the Wyoming LLC.
Wyoming LLC points to anonymity.
So if somebody was looking at this business
and they say, Well, who owns it?
Who can I drag into this lawsuit
to squeeze them, to get them to capitulate to my demands?
Well, it's going to be very hard to figure out where that's going.
And that's really what we're driving towards here with anonymity planning.
Now, you can take this
and you can use this same strategy for a different types of assets.
For example, my personal residence, but I want an anonymity
for my personal residence. I'm not going to use an LLC.
I'll create a land trust.
All right?
I'm going to use a land trust for my personal residence.
And to set this up, what I'm going to do is I'm going to use a nominee trustee.
All right.
Here.
So I'll set up a nominee trustee, which means that someone other than me.
So on title,
when the property that's deeded out of my name into this trust, it's
going to go to someone else's name. I'll say.
Clint Coons, as trustee of the 1465 Trust.
That's how title would be taken.
They're no longer going to see the individual's want.
And Maria, as the owners, because they were in the chain of title,
but they're not listed as a current owner. Now, in reality,
your nominee trustee doesn't have any control over the property.
They resign their position. They're out of there.
You're the one in control.
But to outside parties, they don't see this.
So check your house is protected, check your business is taken out of your name.
If you have real estate investments, you do the exact same thing with the LLC.
I hold them in separate LLC and they all point down to here
you're vehicles.
If you don't want them to know that you drive a fancy vehicle, an expensive car,
maybe you set up what's called a personal property trust for your vehicles
and you do the same thing like I'm talking about here.
And you put your vehicle into a personal property trust.
So again, your name is taken off title to that asset.
So we're thinking about planning anonymity is really, really important.
And I tell people this all the time that many lawsuits can be avoided
if the individual who was the eventual defendant
had set themselves up in a way
that when the plaintiff went, look, they didn't see
any assets worth going after, so they didn't want to take the time.
All that matters is whether or not you want to invest the effort
into protecting your own assets from using these types of strategies
and having been practicing for 23 years, I can tell you they do work.
I've had plenty of clients that have been involved in potential litigation
to walk away with only having to settle for their policy limits.
And that's what we want to do.
Insurance pays, but they don't want to come after us
because they can't find any assets where they make the assumption
that we don't have the assets.
I've seen the opposite happen
where their presumption is or deep pocketed
defendants like your medical doctor,
they run your name, they see all the assets you own.
And that physician now is involved in a Harry case
and they're having to come out of pocket. The choice is yours.
You want to take steps now to protect your assets.
Look at an anonymity structure. Going to the show notes.
You can set up a free strategy session with our firm
and we can analyze your situation
and show you what we could do to get your name off title to your assets.
Take care.