The Problem

Are you exposed to personal financial ruin from unanticipated claims?

You’ve worked hard to secure a comfortable lifestyle for your family. But, unavoidably, your business, personal and investment activities expose you to significant potential liabilities. These liabilities can result from such matters as:

  • Medical & Professional Malpractice.
  • Real Estate Ownership.
  • Personal Injury & Negligence.    
  • Business and Investment Loans.
  • Defective/Substandard Products or Services.
  • Medical Expenses.    
  • Duties as Officers and Directors.
  • Environmental Clean-Up Claims. 
  • Libel and Slander.    
  • Trustee and Fiduciary Obligations. 
  • Securities Claims Related to Raising Business Funds. 
  • Liabilities for Children’s Activities.

Although traditional insurance covers some risks, it doesn’t adequately cover many risks that can result in very significant and sometimes overwhelming losses. And if insurance coverage is available, premiums often are excessive.



The Solution

Advance planning can help to protect your family’s lifestyle.

The Corporate Research LLC Asset Protection Program uses a specially designed limited liability company (the "Nevis LLC") to effectively shield not only your investment portfolio, but also your home, vacation property, investment real estate and business interests.

Our Nevis LLC gives you the leverage needed to settle future claims if you want to settle them instead of going to court. And if you are unsuccessful in court, your Nevis LLC may enable you to settle an adverse judgment for a smaller amount than the judgment creditor could otherwise collect from your assets. Corporate Research LLC works closely with your legal, tax and investment advisors to custom tailor the strategy to fit your unique circumstances and to ensure that it is implemented promptly and efficiently for your benefit.

Your investments, home and other financial interests are at risk. Is there a simple way to protect them?

Effective Protection for Your Hard-Earned Assets.

The Corporate Research Asset Protection Program includes carefully structured limited liability companies (LLCs) that help protect your investment portfolio, business interests, your home and other real estate. Your assets remain in the U.S., titled in U.S. LLCs that you personally manage, but which are owned by your Nevis LLC, which is formed under British Commonwealth law in Nevis, an island in the Caribbean. Because of the way your ownership of the Nevis LLC is structured, U.S. judges and courts cannot interfere with either its operation or your ownership interest in it. The result is that the assets held by your U.S. LLCs are extremely difficult for a creditor to reach.

The limited liability company law enacted by Nevis substantially limits creditors’ rights against the members of the Nevis LLC and its assets. Together, these laws and the unique structure of the Corporate Research Asset Protection program can effectively protect your assets.

In many cases, the fact that you own assets through a foreign-based entity motivates a plaintiff’s lawyer to settle a claim.

You decide what assets you want to protect and then you transfer them to your Nevis LLC, which simultaneously transfers them to your U.S. LLCs. In addition to protecting the assets placed in the U.S. LLCs when they are first organized, you may protect other assets by transferring them later. If, in the future, you no longer have concerns about potential claims, you can easily and quickly liquidate your Corporate Research Asset Protection Program LLCs.

The Corporate Research Asset Protection Program limited liability company strategy offers these protective benefits, among others:

  • Your Nevis LLC is private, but its effectiveness does not depend on secrecy.
  • Your creditors cannot attach, foreclose or sell your Nevis LLC interest or any assets that it holds.
  • A creditor cannot vote your Nevis LLC interest or exercise any other member rights, such as the right to review LLC books and records.
  • Both the U.S. LLC that holds your assets and your Nevis LLC are highly resistant to claims that seek to "pierce the corporate veil.”
  • The Nevis LLC is not subject to U.S. court jurisdiction and is immune to U.S. court orders.
  • Transfers to your Nevis LLC are not easily attacked as fraudulent conveyances like transfers to trusts and gifts.

An established financial planning and asset protection tool.

The Limited Liability Company Concept

A limited liability company (LLC) is a hybrid entity that offers the asset-protection advantages of a corporation and the flexibility of a partnership. Those who manage the LLC are called "managers," and those who own the LLC are called "members." Like a corporation, those managing the LLC are not required to own it, and neither the members nor managers are responsible for its debts and obligations. LLCs are authorized in all fifty states. However, both because of the laws of Nevis under which it is formed and the particular terms and provisions that we have developed, the Nevis LLC can be much more effective than a U.S. LLC in shielding its assets from claims against the LLC members.

Nevis is a Caribbean nation that is part of a Federation with St. Kitts. It is a member of the British Independent Territories and is subject to judicial control by the British court system. When Nevis lawmakers revised trust and business entity laws over the last six years, they studied American LLC statutes and engaged American lawyers to create an entity to appeal specifically to American citizens. The resulting structure has become popular among professionals who advise American clients about international techniques to help protect their assets from claims and substantially enhance their ability to negotiate with their creditors.

LLCs formed in Nevis have become a preferred vehicle to protect a wide variety of assets, including investment accounts, real estate, interests in other entities (including U.S. LLCs that have assets), capital equipment and intellectual property. Although it is considered to be a sophisticated strategy, you can implement a Nevis LLC quickly and inexpensively.

Limiting Creditor Rights

Creditors will seize or foreclose on your personal assets. What is the alternative?

Charging orders are available to creditors of LLCs formed in the United States. However, Nevis LLC law provides that a charging order is the exclusive creditor remedy. A charging order against a member’s interest requires the LLC to pay over to the judgment creditor the member’s share of distributions from the LLC, if any are made.

A charging order does not allow the creditor to seize a member’s LLC interest or foreclose or execute its judgment against the interest or any assets of the LLC. A creditor also cannot vote the interest or exercise any other member rights, such as the right to inspect books and records.

Obtaining a charging order requires three steps – First, a claimant or creditor must engage counsel in Nevis. Lawyers licensed to practice in Nevis are prohibited from taking cases on a contingent fee basis and typically require a substantial retainer payment prior to undertaking a lawsuit. Next, a plaintiff is required to file a lawsuit against you in Nevis, even if he has filed and won a lawsuit in the United States. Finally, after obtaining a judgment in Nevis, a plaintiff is permitted to apply to the court for a charging order.

Even if the creditor is successful in obtaining a charging order, a claimant or creditor seeking to collect from you will understand that your Nevis LLC simply will not make distributions. Under these circumstances, a creditor has a strong incentive to settle his claim for less than the full amount claimed.

Since a judgment against you must be obtained in Nevis before a charging order can be sought and since the charging order remedy so substantially limits creditors' rights, the Nevis LLC can provide strong protection for your assets. In order to ensure that the charging order is the creditor’s only remedy, care must be taken to ensure that the LLC is not considered an alter ego of the member whose assets are contributed to it.

Transfers "for equivalent value" aren't easily set aside.

Timely and Effective Protection

The law applicable to transferring assets to your Nevis LLC considers such transfers to be “for equivalent value.” As such, they cannot easily be set aside by U.S. judges and courts. This is one of the reasons Corporate Research considers the Nevis LLC one of the most powerful asset protection tool available today.

No tax issues.

Income Tax Neutral

Your Nevis LLC, and any U.S. LLCs that are a part of your asset protection plan, can be structured to be disregarded for federal income tax purposes. This allows you to report all of the Asset Protection and U.S. LLCs’ income and loss on your personal tax returns as if the LLCs did not exist. No annual partnership or other federal tax return filings would be required. Alternatively, you may elect to treat your Nevis LLC as a partnership for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Although a federal partnership tax return must be filed if you elect to treat the Nevis LLC as a partnership, your Nevis LLC passes through all of its income and loss to its members.

Whether disregarded for tax purposes or treated as a partnership, your Nevis LLC will be tax neutral, and you will pay no more or less tax than if you had not formed an LLC. The Corporate Research Asset Protection strategy is designed to be fully disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service and to minimize foreign entity information reporting.

A smart alternative to family limited partnerships.

Family Limited Liability Companies

The Nevis LLC is an excellent alternative entity for people who are considering a family limited partnership. A family limited liability company (FLLC) offers the same valuation discounts and estate and gift tax benefits as a family limited partnership. In addition, however, when compared with either holding assets directly on through a family limited partnership, the FLLC is a more effective asset protection tool. The FLLC also may keep its members’ spouses and other relatives from making claims against the FLLC’s assets or otherwise interfering in the FLLC’s business.

Simple, flexible and cost-effective protection.

Additional Benefits

In addition to its strong asset protection capabilities, the Nevis LLC boasts several other significant features:

  • Your Nevis LLC has minimal reporting requirements, and it is not subject to the reporting requirements for foreign trusts.
  • You can elect to treat your Nevis LLC either as a U.S. partnership or "C" corporation or, with certain planning, you can elect to have your LLC disregarded for U.S. federal income tax purposes and all income or loss will be reported on your personal tax return.
  • Members are immune from company liability.  This fully protects you from liability for your Nevis LLC’s obligations and activities.
  • There are no requirements to keep minute books, hold annual manager or member meetings or observe any corporate formalities.
  • You can establish an Nevis LLC quickly.  The Nevis LLC usually is less costly to form and maintain than other international entities and asset protection strategies.
  • You can use a Nevis LLC to own U.S. LLCs, corporations and partnership interests.

Implementation

Family Limited Liability Companies

Corporate Research LLC ensures that all aspects of establishing your asset protection program are handled efficiently. Before we make a formal engagement proposal, we thoroughly discuss the asset protection program with you and your advisors.

It usually takes from three to six weeks to establish your Nevis LLC, draft the Operating Agreements and complete all related activities. Your attorney and any other advisors with whom you wish to consult will ensure that the structure meets your particular needs and is organized in a legal and appropriate manner.