Monday, 07 Jan 2013 07:57 AM

By Denis Kleinfeld

This year is going to be a good year for lawyers, which means it will be a bad year for everyone else.

Neither Congress nor the Obama administration has showed the least interest in any form of litigation reform. The Bar Associations are consumed with diversity and inclusion programs when not pushing for more pro bono work.

The court system is being hammered by lack of funding, as well as a lack of enough competent judges. Even the Supreme Court of the United States appears incapable of reining in the tidal wave of lawsuits.

The government has an endless supply of agencies that have virtually an unlimited ability to file regulatory and enforcement actions.

Anyone with money is on the hit list of somebody.

It's bad enough for investors, business owners or even homeowners to be hit with civil actions. But congress has just about made everything subject to criminal prosecution, fines and forfeiture as well.

Before you wake up in the morning and after you go to bed, you will need a lawyer.

The fun part of 2013 will be trying to assure a reasonable level of financial security when facing the creditor, tax, investment, business and human dynamic risks (to mention just a few) that will be part of everyday life in the coming year.

Most of the legal and other liability exposures are beyond anyone's ability to stop in their tracks, which is why asset protecting is the first and, in some cases, the only line of financial defense against being overrun by litigation liability and judgments.

What does it take when it comes to asset-protection planning?

There is an entire industry now devoted to providing asset protection, most of which focus on quick solutions — form a limited liability corporation, invest in insurance, use a new money manager or buy an asset-protection trust package and the like.

Don't be fooled.

Planning to protect assets is a much more complex undertaking in order to get it right.

Integrating estate planning, income and estate tax planning, investment control and dealing with the disfunctionality that is inherent in all human activity are but a few of the variables that must be balanced in deciding a plan.

Unlike most experiences people have in their daily lives, this is not an effort to create a win-win situation. Far from it.

It is more akin to a military campaign with developing a strategy based on existing circumstances and goals, then using the correct tactics to execute the plan.

While a settlement of controversy and litigation is always possible, like a peace treaty, more often at the end of the battle there is a winner and a loser.

There are two parts to litigation: liability and collectability.

Liability is a matter of risk management.

Collectability is a matter of asset-protection planning.

A money judgment, no matter who is the judgment creditor, has no value if it cannot be collected.

Economic adversity and a government bent on enforcing its will on the governed makes for a nasty mixture of both greed, the desire for personal advancement and, for some, the fulfillment of the goal of imposing an ideology.

The year has already started as a year of attacks on the rich.

The rich have a choice. Plan on protecting assets or be prepared to lose them.

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