Who Should Use This Plan

This arrangement is used most often by individuals who are primarily concerned with financial privacy issues. A client of ours had an elderly mother whose assets consisted of $200,000 in savings at a brokerage firm. We put the funds in a Privacy Trust specifically for the purpose of eliminating high pressure telemarketing pitches for investment products and phony investment schemes. Our client wanted to protect against the risk that his mother would lose her money to a scam artist using account information to victimize the elderly.

We also have created this type of Privacy Trust for several clients in law enforcement—police officers and federal agents—who want to avoid privacy intrusions from dangerous individuals they have dealt with in their line of work. Similarly, for entertainers and public officials, who are well known by the public, we are often asked to conceal ownership of their homes and financial holdings with the use of this particular technique.

The Privacy Trust–Plan #1 is not designed to protect the assets of the trust from a judgment or a claim against you. Since the trust is revocable, the law provides that property in the trust can be reached in a collection proceeding. Although most lawsuits will be discouraged by the secrecy attributes, if you own Dangerous Assets or have substantial liability risks from your business you should consider a strategy which combines asset protection features with the Privacy Trust.