The Alec Baldwin Saga: A Case Study

Can Asset Protection Save His Fortune from Manslaughter Charges? By: Stephen Speiser, Esq. February 1, 2024 The once bright future of Alec Baldwin is now in serious peril.  On Friday, January 19, 2024, a New Mexico grand jury indicted the Emmy-award winning actor and director on involuntary manslaughter charges stemming from the October 2021 fatal shooting on the film set …

Florida’s Homestead Law

by Stephen Speiser, Esq.The Speiser Law Firm P.A. Florida’s homestead exemption is one of the most powerful asset protection laws available anywhere in the United States.  Moreover, it is not just statutory law:  It is written into the Constitution of the State of Florida.  That makes Florida’s homestead law a constitutional right.   Article 10, Section 4 of the Florida Constitution provides that an unsecured creditor …

The Mireva Invasion

Are Mireva Rulings Coming to the United States? Readers of our website know that we have written extensively about the Mareva ruling, a form of ex parte preliminary injunction increasingly granted by courts outside the USA to freeze debtor assets. A 2021 Florida state court decision has created a great deal of unease among debtors’ representatives concerning the reach of …

Asset Protection: Foundations versus Trusts

From time to time, we are asked about using foundations as a substitute for asset protection trusts. In our judgment, there is no substitute for a competent, well crafted trust. This does not mean, however, that foundations should not be used in asset protection planning. For clients with charitable goals and objectives, foundations provide an excellent vehicle to satisfy those …

When In Rome… How the Location of Assets Affects Asset Protection Planning

The location of particular assets affects the law governing those assets and your ability to protect those assets from unanticipated creditors

Is All Asset Protection Planning Bad Under the UVTA?

A state’s enactment of a DAPT law should be regarded as the state legislature’s expression per se “actual intent” under the UVTA not be imputed in any form of asset protection planning.  While this is an incredibly broad inference, it reflects the reality that DAPTs do not exist in a vacuum.

Convoy Collateral v. Broad Idea et al.: Going Beyond Anton Piller Orders

The Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has recently issued a ruling expanding the power of the courts in the British Virgin Islands to issue injunctions in support of foreign proceedings, including injunctions directed at third parties who are not subject to any substantive claims (known as “Chabra” orders). Notably, this relief may be granted even if …

Charging Order Protection

Charging Orders are an important legal issue that must be navigated by the client and their attorney in order to create a successful asset protection plan.  Technically, a charging order is a creditor remedy.  It is a court order that allows a creditor to intercept any distributions of income or profits that are paid out by an LLC or a Limited Partnership to a member …

Fraudulent Transfers (aka “Voidable Transactions”)

Fraudulent transfers are one of the most important and difficult legal issues that must be confronted by the client and their attorney in order to create a successful asset protection plan.  A fraudulent transfer is defined as a transfer of property to a third party with the intent to “hinder, delay, or defraud” a present or future creditor.  For example, transferring title to real …