Favour. The judgment lien immediately attaches to all real

Estate in your name, all bank accounts and other assets. A

lien acts like a mortgage or a trust deed. You can't sell or

Refinance a property without paying off the creditor, and he can

Foreclose on the real estate and seize any accounts in your

Name. A creditor with a judgment lien clearly holds all of the

cards. You have no room to negotiate. Certainly that isn't the

Position you want to be in when you deal with an adversary.

Part II

... that isn't the position you want to be in when you deal with

An adversary. One of our clients, Ed, was a wealthy real-estate

investor and owned five apartment buildings worth about $3

Million. Although he was involved in a lawsuit concerning a

Property dispute at the time, he felt he had little exposure. We

Set up a plan for him using several limited liability companies to

hold the properties. A year later, Ed told us that he'd lost the

case and there was a judgment against him for $1.5 million.

Had he not set up the plan, he'd have been in big trouble. The

plaintiff would've had a lien on all of the client's real estate,

worth $3 million, as security for the judgment. The property

would've been frozen and then seized. The plaintiff wouldn't

Have taken a cent less than the full amount of the judgment.

Nothing to talk about or discuss - just pay up. That's a bad

Position to be in.

But because Ed was a smart guy, he wasn't in a bad position.

Since all of his assets had been transferred into the plan, the

judgment lien didn't affect the properties. Ed was free to sell,

refinance, collect rents and deal with his property just like he'd

Always done. Since the creditor had no security for his

Judgment and stood to collect nothing, Ed now had the

Leverage to negotiate a favourable settlement. He settled the

case for $75,000 - clearly a better result than losing the $1.5

Million. In this case, the proper asset protection plan changed

the relative bargaining power of each side. Ed could've been

Weak and vulnerable, but instead was able to negotiate from a

Position of strength.

Another client, an architect, had savings of about $80,000

which he'd inherited from his mother. Architects have a high

Lawsuit risk. Sure enough, within two years of setting up a

Protection plan with us, my client was served with a lawsuit. The

Plaintiff attempted to get a pre-judgment attachment of the

Savings, but the judge ruled that the assets were properly

protected and couldn't be reached by a lien. Without any

assurance of payment, the plaintiff's attorney quickly lost

interest and the case was settled for under $2,000.

These examples illustrate the importance of protecting assets

From pre-judgment attachments and judgment liens. I suggest you

Consider making an appointment with one of the members of our

Team to talk about how we can help you protect your own assets.

Listening 2

Ms Hall: So, Mr Berger, perhaps we should get started.

Mr Berger: Of course.

Ms Hall: How did you find out about our firm, and about the

position?

Mr Berger: Well, your firm is very well known - even in

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 785