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Legal Action Team
Phone:1-(888)-251-9343
Assisting Clients In All 50 States And Internationally
Asset Agreement Creation & Fulfillment
Help us, help you get on the pass to success. Lets learn what assets are most important to you and teach you how to protect them or setup a plan that will keep your assets away from those who may want to take them.
Asset Engagement & Rehabilitation
We will learn what finances and assets are the most valuable to your overall success. We will find out who may harm your financial wherewithal, approach them, get a status on your finances, past defiances, formulate a plan, execute the plan and get your back on the path to improving your financial standing with all parties involved.
Home Foreclosure Proctection Trust
The number of homes that have gone into foreclosure since August 2007 is frightening. As of the end of of October 2008 nearly 1,000,000 foreclosures have been filed. There is no end in sight due to the financial crisis. A Personal ResidenceTrust (PRT) may PROTECT homeowners if executed immediately. Timing is crucial due to the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act ( UFTA) adopted in some form in all 50 states. These statutes provide a three year “look back” ( seven in CA.) as to all transfers of assets including a personal residence to a Trust or third party. The various benefits that can be realized by The Cornell Group creating a (PRT) are as follows:
• The residence is placed in Trust by the Grantor (H/W) with a named beneficiary;
• The Trust is created for a fixed Term, usually 10-15 years;
• Grantor remains in the home, maintains the home and can sell home during the Term;
• At the end of the term of the trust Grantor may stay in the home as a rental tenant;
• During the term the trust “owns” title to the home not the Grantor(s);
• The Trust MUST be Irrevocable to provide Asset protection & Gift Tax consideration
There are a variety Trusts that can be implemented to achieve an individual’s/couples needs including asset protection and also leave a financial legacy behind. Please contact us so we may discuss your individual situation.
Estate Planning Strategies
The drafting of a proper trust structure is fundamental in Estate and Wealth Planning. here are the facts: The Federal Estate Tax (Death Taxes) for Estates valued over 3.5 million dollars (2009) are subject to an excise rate that STARTS at 41% rising to 45% on each dollar over this amount. Taking life insurance proceeds into consideration and the equity in one’s home, this amount is reached fairly quickly. Doesn’t it make sense to minimize this egregious tax and leave it to your children and grandchildren? We think so. This is common sense.
Furthermore, the above guidelines will “reset” in 2010, at which time many individuals who already have a trust structure in place will be forced to amend their documents as these trusts were created under federal tax assumptions that will no longer be valid. As such, if nothing is done to review a trust already in place there is a very good possibility the Grantor’s (the creator of the estate plan) wishes will not be met under the new Federal Estate Tax guidelines.
We recommend and draft numerous Revocable Living Trusts (RLT) which are implemented for estates valued below the above 3.5 M threshold. We firmly believe that anyone with assets totaling at least Fifty Thousand ( 50 K) Dollars needs our Living Trust Package if for nothing else but to avoid probate court and attorney fees.
The most popular trust we draft (and the most popular trust in the U.S.) is the Marital A-B Trust which doubles the federal estate tax exemption from 3.5M to 7M on the death of the surviving spouse. These Trusts can be Revocable or Non-Revocable depending on our client’s and their beneficiaries’ asset protection needs.
The LLC: The Corner Stone of Asset Protection
The Government (IRS) and all Court’s (State and Federal) acceptance of the LLC (Limited Liability Company) as the premier entity to protect personal assets while enjoying “pass through” tax treatment cannot be overstated. Legally recognized in all 50 states, the LLC can best be describe as a hybrid between a corporation ( limited liability to it’s Board of Directors) and a partnership ( pass through tax issues classified by the IRS as “non-taxable events”).
Uses of a LLC are virtually unlimited and diverse. These include all types of real estate investments: i.e. rentals ( not one’s personal residence though), vacation homes and ownership of commercial and retail properties. These types of asset ownerships are classified as “passive investments” for the purposes of calculating the self-employment on Net Profit which in this case are excluded.
Other LLC uses include the operation of a retail business, investments in private placement partnerships, alternative investments, and brokerage accounts (including “self-directed IRAs). An LLC can but not always be established in the state where the asset is located (“home state”), but this is not always a requirement. Once formed, a LLC can do business in any other state once registerd (“qualified’) by the Secretary of State Division of Corporations or any other nomenclature a state may use.
Personal property such as motor vehicles, boats, and aircraft, to name a few, may also be titled into a LLC if so desired. Again, the asset list is unlimited.
TAX TREATMENT
All income and expenses “pass through” to the individual/couple’s/business tax returns found on the appropriate schedule on the return. The IRS does not require a separate return for the LLC to file. An “Informational Partnership Return” must be filed though, with the IRS ( Form 1065) for “informational purposes only” as to a multi-member LLCs.
Furthermore, an Employees Identification Number ( EIN) is applied for, then assigned by the IRS for the LLC which is needed to open a separate bank account in the name of the LLC. Some accountants use the EIN on returns to identify profits/losses that stem from the LLC operations for the previous tax year. This is not a IRS requirement .
A LLC and its members are not responsible to the IRS to pay a “double tax” (i.e. one for the company and the other for any distributions to its members) as is the case for a standard C Corporation structure. This fact alone is perhaps the second reason (after limited liability to its members) why LLCs are the most popular entity currently being formed in the United States in the last ten (10) years..and rightly so!
Asset Protection for the Non-U.S. Resident
Unlike a S-Corporation, a non-U.S. Resident and/or foreign corporation doing business or owning assets in the U.S. ( business office, vacation home etc.) can be members of an American LLC to protect their assets in the event the property or business is sued under the jurisdiction of an American court (State or Federal). This added feature of an LLC is very important for our foreign individual and business clients with assets here in the U.S.
