Divorce and Family partner Lisette Dupré and Commercial Litigation partner Elaina Bailes were among 500 lawyers from more than 50 countries who gathered for the AIJA International Young Lawyers’ Congress in Rio between 20 and 26 August. This year’s theme was rethinking the law in four dimensions, which called upon speakers to think more about how the law may develop in the next five years than simply looking at how it stands today.
This month at Business Breakfast Club, we discussed asset protection strategies and transactions which are voidable by a Trustee in Bankruptcy. There are a number of asset protection strategies to consider, particularly when carrying on a business, and there is no one perfect strategy. BAL Director, Katie Innes shared some of her insights on the topic. In addition to discussing some of the more common asset protection strategies Katie touched on:
Voidable Transactions
Restructuring: Rollovers, Small business restructure rollovers and small business CGT concessions
July 2017
Linda Tapiolas Partner
T 61 7 3231 2562 M 0437 200 334
Level 21, 400 George Street Brisbane 4000 Australia
GPO Box 834, Brisbane 4001 www.cgw.com.au
I INTRODUCTION
The ultimate aim of the Bankruptcy Act 1996 (Cth) is to provide a fair and orderly process for the administration of the affairs of a debtor. In many circumstances the debtor may attempt to avoid his obligations to some or all of his creditors. The Bankruptcy Act recognises this and has long had provisions which empower trustees in bankruptcy to recover certain assets of a bankrupt. The two types of powers given to the trustee are where:
There is a plethora of Australian legislation which sheets home personal liability to directors and officers.
Below are some reminders of traps for directors and officers for transactions that might be undertaken in the usual course of a director or officer’s normal arrangements.
Trap 1: Super re-contribution
Some advisors propose, as a strategy for limiting superannuation death benefits tax, withdrawing superannuation balances and re-contributing that amount into super as a non-concessional tax-free contribution.
The Debtor’s Freeze: Protecting Your Client’s Assets
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Protecting Assets
Background
So what precisely is an asset protection trust and what is it, over and above a normal trust that an asset protection trust is seeking to achieve? This paper considers these issues from a Jersey law perspective and fundamentally asks the question to what extent a Jersey trust, once established, will protect assets from creditor claims.
LLC members and other persons dealing with LLCs will be interested in a recent Florida Supreme Court case that was decided on June 24, 2010. The court’s decision in Olmstead v. FTC appears to eliminate part of the asset protection feature of single-member LLCs and calls into question the remedies available to creditors of members in multiple-member LLCs.
The Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington has now joined other states in invalidating transfers to a self-settled trust on a variety of grounds in the latest asset protection self settled trust case, In re Huber, 2012 Bankr. LEXIS 2038 (May 17, 2013).
The limited liability company is widely used as the business entity of choice for a number of reasons, including its asset protection benefits. If a creditor of an LLC member attempts to seize the LLC member's interest (or the assets of the LLC for that matter), the creditor will have to deal with the charging order roadblock.