The Investment Lawyer.
ERISA and Retirement Plan Compliance, Fiduciary Investment Due Diligence and Compliance, Domestic and Offshore Asset Protection, and Financial Advisor Oversight.​
Services
Asset Protection
Asset Protection is the art of arranging your affairs so that your assets are protected from unforeseen calamities, such as uninsured losses or medical bills, unanticipated business declines, or a professional liability issue. Asset protection can be done for yourself, or for a family member (when a child is getting married and you want to protect an inheritance from a potential divorce).
The key to any asset protection plan is advance planning. Once you become aware of a financial issue, you are limited in the types of asset protection tools that may be available to you.
401(k) and Retirement
Qualified retirement plans, such as 401(k) plans, are a great way to defer (and, sometimes, avoid) taxes, with the benefit of asset protection under federal laws. However, the failure to design or operate your plan correctly could result in substantial adverse tax consequences, and the unnecessary exposure of personal assets.​​
We can help you to choose the best design that allows for tax deferral beyond what most simple designs permit. We can help you to negotiate fees and help to ensure that the operation of the plan complies with your fiduciary obligations.
Board Members
If you serve on the Board of an endowment, foundation or pension fund, or you are the trustee of a 401(k) or a private trust, you have legal obligations in the management of assets. ERISA, UPIA and UPMIFA, among other laws, require prudence and documentation. The failure to document prudent decision-making could result in substantial personal liability for the Board member or trustee.
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We help Board members and trustees to manage their fiduciary obligation in compliance with applicable laws. We also help to document prudence in order to limit exposure of personal assets.
Advisor Oversight
You rely on your financial advisor to do the right thing. Unfortunately, a lack of communication, high fees and, at times, malfeasance cost investors substantial sums of money annually - most of which is never recovered.
Solve the problem before it happens.
We can perform due diligence on your advisor. We can draft Investment Policy Statements to ensure that your advisor follows prudent investment procedures. And we can negotiate fees, which can potentially save you tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars over an investment lifetime.
Offshore
The truth is that most asset protection plans only need to involve liberal amounts of common sense and domestic strategies. However, on rare occasions, an offshore asset protection trust, or other offshore strategy, may be necessary in order to maximize asset protection.
We are capable of assisting you with in establishing and funding these structures in a legally compliant manner. We will ensure that your accountant understands the annual filing requirements of offshore accounts. And we can describe the various issues that are involved in choosing the appropriate country for your offshore account or structure.
Virtual Family Office
Most of the wealthiest individuals in the world, including Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan, manage their financial lives through a family office. A family office combines all of your trusted advisors - legal, tax, investment, etc. - under one roof for the seamless management of your affairs.
While the cost of a family office can be prohibitive, we can create a virtual family office for you, where we facilitate the interaction between and among your trusted advisors to manage your financial life efficiently and effectively.