2022 Legal Update: Covid-19 restrictions are disappearing, but lawsuits are on the rise.
Blake Harris Law has been helping clients deal with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic for years now, making sure our clients are legally protected from the uncertainty it caused.
As we approach the middle of 2022, and with the United States appearing to leave behind the worst of the pandemic, many, us included, are happy to see things returning to normal.
Now the economy is making a strong recovery and we can see our freeways, airports, and public spaces once again full of activity. As is often the case with such large systemic shifts, the end of the Covid-19 era brings a lot of benefits but is not without some drawbacks.
While many workers bemoan the end of work from home arrangements and are now forced back to the office, the end of the pandemic is bringing back other serious concerns.
As we make our return to normality, we attorneys are seeing overall litigation activity rise as court backlogs have cleared and trials have restarted.
While dealing with the complexity of this rapidly changing environment could seem overwhelming, there are tried and true methods of legal protection that will continue to work effectively in 2022 and beyond.
As with many other legal solutions, an asset protection plan increases its security and credibility the longer it has been established.
That means now is the right time to implement an asset protection plan to ensure your wealth, real estate, and cryptocurrency are safe from lawsuits.
Increasingly the entire economy needs to come to terms with living in a world where Covid-19 is considered as the new normal. Businesses must operate with supply chain disruptions and courts are now less likely to accept defenses to breach of contract based on Covid-related issues.
With the past two years largely dominated by the pandemic, courts are increasingly skeptical about parties being unable to perform on their contracts in this environment.
Another host of challenges will be litigation arising out of the American with Disabilities Act, as employers will have to deal with requests for remote work as reasonable accommodation, managing vaccine mandates and exemptions, and disability claims based on long-haul Covid-19.
The legal field had to quickly learn to adapt to work under quarantine conditions, which gave rise to mass adoption in technologies such as remote shareable work product, videoconferences, and other streamlined processes.
These changes are likely here to stay as they offer significant savings for law firms and attorneys. These reforms will likely result in increased access to legal services and thus even higher rates of litigation.
This means business-owners, employers, and others will be more at risk than ever before from a potential lawsuit.
An effective asset protection strategy can help you protect against multiple types of legal threats and often includes different legal solutions working together to provide the right combination of security, flexibility, and control.
Perhaps the most integral part of an asset protection plan is an asset protection trust. These types of trusts shield your wealth by transferring control to a third-party trustee while you or your family members are named beneficiaries of the trust.
The trustee is required to follow the terms of the trust, including the spendthrift clauses, which generally prevent the trustee from distributing funds out of the trust in the event of a lawsuit or other legal claim.
If a judge orders the trust to turn over its assets to satisfy a judgment, only the trustee has the authority to do so but is prevented by the language of the trust deed.
Asset protection trusts are recognized by the laws of several U.S. states as well as several foreign jurisdictions. Domestic asset protection trusts can be a cost-effective solution that can help defend against certain types of claims, but the lack of uniformity across state laws and mixed results in past caselaw means their effectiveness remains limited.
For increased protection, consider using an asset protection trust settled in a jurisdiction outside of the United States such as The Cook Islands. These types of offshore trusts have existed since the 1980’s and over time have been recognized as the ultimate legal solution for asset protection.
Generally, when a trust is settled and managed outside of the U.S., any trust assets are beyond the reach of U.S. creditors and even domestic court orders.
Since sovereign nations are free to recognize court judgments from a different country, the purpose of having an offshore asset protection trust is to force the plaintiff to bring their lawsuit to the foreign courts, with all the increased costs and hassles that entails.
The Cook Islands Asset Protection Trust offers the maximum level of legal security thanks to the island nation’s favorable legislation and well-established tradition of protecting defendant’s rights.
Forming a trust in The Cook Islands can be done from the U.S. with the help of a U.S. attorney, only the trustee is required to be physically located in the jurisdiction where the Trust is registered. Trust assets can in turn be deposited in banks located in jurisdictions such as Switzerland or The Cook Islands.
An offshore asset protection trust can be used to protect cash, financial securities such as stocks and bonds, cryptocurrencies, and many other types of assets.
In addition to offshore asset protection trusts, the attorneys at Blake Harris Law can provide assistance with a variety of other asset protection solutions for different types of risk tolerance, net worth, and individual circumstances.
Our attorneys have worked on a wide range of different asset protection matters and are can help you find the right asset protection plan that fits your needs.
As we continue to navigate the new post-Covid environment, asset protection is more important now than ever. Not only is the respite caused by the quarantine and reduced economic activity coming to an end, but new legal challenges are arising for employers, business owners, and professionals.
Fortunately, some things have stayed the same. The legal strategies advocated by experienced asset protection practitioners can help provide much-needed protection from legal threats. You can take the first step towards protecting your wealth and helping secure your asset for your future and the future of your family.
Contact Blake Harris Law today to schedule your free consultation with an asset protection attorney.
