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 Business Entity Formation

In apparent response to the high-profile use of offshore trusts in the arena of asset protection, several domestic legislatures codified statutes allowing trusts with similar characteristics.

In 1997, Alaska and Delaware enacted legislation to permit the settlors of a trust to remain a trust beneficiary, but still obtain spendthrift protection. Proponents of the Alaska and Delaware statutes assert that they offer the same asset protection from creditors that is otherwise available only with offshore trusts created in certain debtor friendly jurisdictions.

In 1999, Nevada and Rhode Island enacted similar legislation.

In 2003, Utah enacted legislation (Code Section 25-6-14) to permit the settler of a trust to obtain spendthrift protection as a beneficiary, but only with respect to personal property transferred to the trust.

South Dakota enacted legislation to permit creditor protection for self-settled trusts on March 2, 2005, effective July 1, 2005.

In almost every other state, settlors of trusts are denied spendthrift protection.

The importance of these acts must be considered when utilizing a LLC as a property ownership component to an Asset-Protection Trust.