Saturday, March 29, 2008

Civil Lawsuits: Are They A Way Of Life?

By: Steven Rich, MBA
Lawsuits are becoming a worldwide menace. Everyone should be afraid of lawsuits. You might think, \"I\'ll never be sued\". How wrong you are! It\'s so easy being sued now days. Why?Direct & Indirect Liability We all know that we can be sued for direct involvement with an accident or by negligence. You can also be indirectly involved with a lawsuit. Joint & Several Liability is a legal concept used globally to drag innocent bystanders into lawsuits. Here\'s how. Theft, Fraud, or Personal Injuries caused by your Spouse, Business Partners, or Employees can make you liable.You can be sued and become \"jointly and severally\" liable for an injury to someone without having been personally negligent. All that is necessary is that you were connected in some way. If you are dragged into a lawsuit and the other defendants are without assets or insurance, you may end up being held liable for the full amount of the judgment!

WHAT ABOUT INSURANCE? Many lawyers recommend you purchase at least $1 Million insurance for each of your businesses, homes, land, cars, motorcycles, and boats you own. This will cost you $ thousands in premiums every year depending on how large a deductible (which you\'ll pay to the plaintiff) you are willing to afford. Is that enough?

$ MILLIONS CAN BE AT STAKE
Here are some recent civil court judgments from the United States:$84.5 million for children drowned and brain damaged in a swimming pool.$7 million to a laborer who lost a limb at work on a construction job.$5.87 million for sponsoring a party where a guest later caused an auto accident. $2.7 million for spilling some hot coffee on the legs while driving. In addition to the court award, you must pay $ Thousands to your defense attorney! You will also endure a lot of wasted time defending yourself and your reputation. Let\'s not even get into the physical & psychological Stress. Not Just in the USA: Citizens of Canada, Europe, Russia, Central & South America, and even communist China are being sued for similar injuries.

HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOURSELF? The best solution is to strip you of all assets and become what is known as \"judgment proof\" amongst the personal injury trial lawyers around the world. Most lawyers charge their clients no direct fee for filing a personal injury lawsuit. This is known as a \"contingent\" fee. It means that the lawyer will collect no fee unless he wins the lawsuit and can collect the court awarded judgment amount. Before a lawsuit is filed, a careful lawyer will research the defendant\'s ability to pay a court judgment. If the defendant is \"judgment proof\", (he has no insurance, no ownership of assets that can be seized to pay off a court judgment) the lawyer will not want to sue that defendant. That\'s because the lawyer will spend all of his time and money pursuing a lawsuit with no hope of ever being paid. So, how can you make yourself Judgment Proof?

OFFSHORE CORPORATIONS & PRIVATE INTEREST FOUNDATIONS
Domestic Corporations: Owning a corporation set up in your own country may provide a little protection. However, a domestic corporation can be sued as well. In addition, your shares in a corporation are assets in which a judgment creditor can seize. So-called \"Limited Liability\" corporations, companies, and partnerships don\'t really offer you bulletproof limited liability.

OFFSHORE CORPORATIONS: A better solution is to set up a corporation outside of your country (offshore). An Offshore Corporation can own real estate and vehicles in your country. For even better protection, set up different Offshore Corporations so each one owns only one of your major assets. For instance, one corporation owns your cars, another owns one piece of real estate, and another owns different real estate. As the old saying goes: \"Don\'t put all of your eggs in one basket.\"

PANAMA OFFERS THE ULTIMATE IN ASSET PROTECTION
WHAT IS ASSET PROTECTION? Asset Protection entails protecting your accumulated wealth from unnecessary taxation, frivolous lawsuits, burdensome governmental intrusion, and greedy relatives or in-laws.

WHY PANAMA? Years ago, former British colonies like the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands offered anonymous corporations & secret bank accounts. Not any more. Even Swiss bank accounts are no longer secret. Panama is one of the few remaining countries allowing you total anonymity with setting up business entities and opening secret bank accounts.

Panama\'s Bank Secrecy Laws are the best in the world. Your funds remain private, confidential, and safe inside Panamanian banks.Panama\'s Corporation Laws are the strongest around the globe. Corporate shares are never registered with any government agency in Panama. Panama is one of the last countries allowing total anonymous \"Bearer\" shares protecting the identity of shareholders.

THE COMPLETE OFFSHORE STRUCTURE
You read about Panama Offshore Corporations. Their main purposes are to Protect your Assets and provide you with Privacy regarding your financial affairs. Let us explore the ultimate in Asset Protection and Privacy. The Complete Offshore Structure is a combination of Panamanian legal entities. A Private Interest Foundation owns the shares of Offshore Corporations. This is the utmost in Asset Protection, Privacy, Anonymity, and Convenience!Here is How It Works: Panamanian Corporations own all major assets (real estate, commercial businesses, commercial bank accounts, vehicles, etc.). The Foundation acts as a holding company for the Corporations. The Foundation also holds passive investment accounts and bank accounts.

What is a Foundation? The Panamanian Private Interest Foundation is a legal entity that acts like a Trust and operates like a Corporation. Law No. 25 of June 12, 1995 created and regulates Panama Private Interest Foundations.The Panama Private Interest Foundation based on Private Interest Foundation models from three different jurisdictions: Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Panama carefully designed the Panama Private Interest Foundation as a more modern, flexible, and affordable Asset Protection & Estate Planning vehicle for people worldwide.Banking: Panama has always used the U.S. Dollar as its official currency. Panama is a famous international banking center. Panama doesn\'t share its banking information with any other country. It is a crime for any bank employee to disclose banking information to any third party in Panama.

Tax Haven: Offshore corporations and foundations do not pay Panamanian income taxes on income earned outside of Panama. Therefore, you can use your Panama entities to make money in other countries tax-free.

ASSET PROTECTION is necessary in today\'s lawsuit crazy world. While the steps we have summarized for you above may seem difficult and complex, they really are not. That\'s because using experts who know how to set up Offshore Corporations and Private Interest Foundations will make this easy for you.

Lawsuit Protection can now be a way of life.

Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com


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