If a business is facing financial difficulty, the business owner is usually concerned about what will happen to the business assets and their personal assets if the business can’t pay its lenders. The inability to service business debts likely will cause a default under the terms of the business debt…
I got a call from a Florida businessman who owned a business in Jacksonville which had been sued. The court awarded a judgment against the business, but there is no judgment against the owner personally. The owner is considering closing down the debtor business and starting a new company doing similar…
An entrepreneur builds a profitable business with many years of hard work, long hours, and some luck. Dreaming of an exit and comfortable retirement, he makes the business available for sale. A larger company makes a generous purchase offer above the full asking price. The entrepreneur, surprised by his good fortune,…
Reduction of employment taxes is part of asset protection planning involving limited liability companies. An LLC may elect to be treated for income tax purposes as either a partnership or a Subchapter S corporation. Advisors typically suggest taxation as an S corporation in order to minimize the amount of LLC…
Landlords who lease residential or commercial property to tenants should be concerned about liability stemming from the tenant or guests of the tenant. For example, a tenant or a guest of the tenant could become injured on the property and then make a claim against the landlord. The gist of…
A creditor’s collection against a debtor’s membership interest in a limited liability company is limited to a charging lien against the debtor’s “transferable interest.” A transferable interest makes the member eligible to receive LLC distributions. The Florida Statutes state that the charging lien is the creditor exclusive remedy against a…
For some businesses, the most valuable asset they have is their website and domain name. Even in cases where the website and domain names would not have any market value to anyone else, a judgment creditor may still seek to levy on this unique personal property in order to pressure…
Piercing the corporate veil refers to the creditor tactic where a creditor with a judgment against a business pierces the corporation and transfers the judgment to the individual owners. Many business owners are worried that their creditors will pierce the corporate veil, putting their family’s assets at risk. One of the…
Federal law wage garnishment rules are different than Florida’s rules and exemptions from wage garnishment. For instance, federal law permits garnishment of 15% of net wages without regard to any state exemptions. I just learned about a federal wage garnishment exemption I had never before encountered in asset protection work….
Most one person professional business- such as attorneys or physicians- operate as a legal entity (P.A. or L.C.) . The professional is an employee who receives from the business a combination of salary and profit distributions. This business arrangement has tax advantages because it can reduce employment taxation, but it…
