First, you should know that asset protection planning is not taught in law school.  Second, you should know that less than 1% of all attorneys in the country know anything about asset protection planning.  Of those that do, most only know domestic asset protection planning (maybe the correct way and maybe not).  Obviously attorneys provide asset protection advice because they legally can, because it can help their clients and because it is a nice income source.

 

When you think of attorneys, many things come to mind.  Some good and some not so good.  Most people however, believe that attorneys have some amount of intelligence in order to get through law school and pass one or more state bar examinations.

 

When most people think of asset protection planning, they think of attorneys drafting some sort of legal document or entity that will help protect assets.

 

The APS™ hates to break this news to you, but like any service you can purchase in life (TVs, cars, plumbing, accounting, insurance, finance, etc), there are good and bad advisors providing that service.  This is also true of attorneys. What makes being a professional so interesting, is that the people who come to you for advice, really do not know the subject matter they are coming to get help with and therefore, it is difficult to determine if an advisor is giving good advice or bad advice.

 

Let us give you an example; if you know that an attorney was marketing “bulletproof” asset protection, wouldn’t that sound like an attorney you would want to get help from?  Would it surprise you that there is such an attorney out there that pitches “bulletproof” asset protection and he happens to be an attorney who was disbarred?  Would it also surprise you that this attorney had an education/sales system to where he taught many non-attorneys how to sell “bulletproof” asset protection as an ancillary income model?  Would it also surprise you that the Federal Trade Commission brought charges against this attorney and his firm for being a multi-level marketing plan.  Finally, would it surprise you that this attorney’s partner is a convicted felon?

 

If I just said there was a well known attorney who would help provide “bulletproof” asset protection, your initial response would have been that it sounds interesting and something you’d like to look into.  Not intending any offense to readers, but if you reviewed the “bulletproof” asset protection strategies, you would have no reason to know that APS™ can find NO credible asset protection specialist who believes the bulletproof  asset protection strategies work.

 

The attorney who pitches “bulletproof” asset protection had a large hand in the creation of the APS™.  The founding members and educational board were so put off by the bad advice being given to the public, with “bulletproof” asset protection at the top of the list, that the APS™ was created.

 

Our point with this section of the website is to remind you that even if someone is a licensed attorney, that doesn’t mean they know anything about asset protection. Remember, law schools do not teach asset protection and few law firms have any attorneys on staff that deal with the subject matter.

 

If you are going to take advice from any kind of advisor on the very important topic of asset protection, probe their knowledge.  Ask them if they have been rated by the APS™ and, if not, why not.   By asking your current or potential advisors a short list of questions, you will be able to tell instantly if they know what they are talking about and if they can help you protect your wealth.

 

To download a series of questions and answers you can ask your advisors to gauge their knowledge on asset protection, please click here.