Fresh Start Trust. Lesson #1. Starting at the Beginning. By Richard Geller. Calworth Glenford, LLC dba

Transcription

1 Lesson #1 Starting at the Beginning By Richard Geller Calworth Glenford, LLC dba

2 Disclaimer this limits our liability Read it! In plain English, I did my best to make this the best guide I could make it, for someone wanting to help others facing foreclosure, credit problems, financial difficulties, or just wanting to maximize protection of their assets. But I am sure that I left stuff out, forgot some important stuff, and made some mistakes. Plus, I can t know the laws of your state, and the facts in your particular situation. And I m not a lawyer nor do I play one on television. Some of this stuff MAY NOT WORK. Or it may be ILLEGAL. Who knows. So You have to take responsibility for whatever you do or don t do after going through my home study ecourse. Don t blame me!! I am not responsible for what you do!! If I were you, I d find a good attorney to advise me. And I d check out whatever it is that anyone tells you to do me, the attorney, your mother-in-law, whoever. Then I d take my chances. Life is full of risks. You could do great following my advice. Or you could fall on your face. Who knows, maybe some of the stuff I suggest is illegal in your state. I don t know. But regardless, you can t go after me for telling you to do something or not do it because I am right now disclaiming any liability. You are on your own!! And with that out of the way, read on While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this ecourse, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this ecourse and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial

3 damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. And another important note this one about ethics The techniques I outline in this ecourse some of them anyway may strike you as pretty outrageous. Unethical perhaps. You may find a few techniques that you can swear are illegal. I don t advocate anything illegal. And I don t want you to do anything unethical. These techniques exist. People do them all the time. I don t want you do be at a disadvantage by not knowing them. So I tell you about them, no holds barred. I think it s too easy to judge others when you haven t been in their shoes. Some people are in frightful situations and they are frankly quite desperate. They need answers. I hope, if this is you or your clients circumstance, you find answers, some of them here. That doesn t mean I think you ought to do things that are unethical, or that things you choose to do are right for everyone. That is for you to decide. Okay? And a final important note this one about plagiarism! You DO NOT have permission to resell this information. You DO NOT have permission to give it away to someone else. This information is sold under a license that lets you read it, use it FOR YOUR OWN USE, but not give it away, make copies, sell it or resell it. For another copy, contact me at: Thank you!

4 IT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU PRINT THIS OUT PRIOR TO READING 340,012 Americans filed bankruptcy in the first three months of At that rate, more than 1,360,000 will be in bankruptcy by the end of the year. It's become an epidemic from the economic catastrophe we are going through. Certainly, the financial hard times go further than only the bankruptcies. Official government numbers say there are more than 13 million unemployed and we all know the number is higher than that because many have plain given up the job search. And there are the underemployed - those not working enough hours or working in jobs well below their capability. These people can't pay their bills. Now let's move on to houses in foreclosure. Banks currently have 2.2 million homes they have taken back through foreclosure. Banks are expected to continue foreclosing on about 100,000 homes each month for some unknown time to come. And there's plenty of credit card debt to go around. The average 4

5 household has $14,750 in credit card debt. We have haven't even gotten to other types of debt people are carrying around on their shoulders. Car loans, student loans, medical bills, back taxes owed, the list goes on and on. It's pretty obvious there are a lot of Americans in a lot of financial trouble. You might be one of them. Maybe you owe a lot of money and the lender is persistently trying to get at anything you still have. In a lot of cases, it's not the fault of the person that is in dire financial shape. I mean come on, what if your former employer outsourced your job to India and that's the reason you fell behind on your mortgage. You ran up a bunch of credit card debt trying to keep up with the mortgage but were foreclosed on anyway. And the house was underwater so the bank didn't get back all of their money and now they want you to make up the deficiency. I believe stories like that are playing out all across the country. And to make things worse the banks took gazillions in taxpayer bail out money. And for being a major player running our economy into the ground these brilliant bank presidents and executives take tens of millions in bonuses. I think they have taken from and done enough to the average American already. I don't think the average American needs to keep 5

6 paying on debt that is either wrong or has been repaid several times in other ways like the taxpayer bailouts or the tax write-offs the banks and lenders already took. Enough is enough...what THE AVERAGE AMERICAN NEEDS IS A FRESH START. And I aim to do my part to show them how they can while remaining financially secure and protected for the rest of their lives. That's why you are reading... The Fresh Start Trust What you will learn from this course: Why and how you want to own almost nothing while controlling everything. Why it's critically important that you take the necessary action to protect your assets now - instead of after a lawsuit is filed against you. How the proper legal structure assures that your business and other assets will not be subject to a legal judgment. How to take a small capital investment and turn it into a cash flow generating machine that your creditors don't know you have and can't get at it if they do. How to get a fresh start and become financially secure the rest of your life. 6

7 I know that s exciting to think about! It s going to take a little work on your part and I ll be here to guide you through the entire process. I m privileged to be able to take this short and profitable journey with you, and I m looking forward to seeing you take exactly the action needed to be sure all of your hard work is not taken away by an unscrupulous or plain greedy creditor and their fee grabbing legal beagle. In this first lesson, we re going to talk about: exactly what a trust is and the major differences between the two basic types. You will learn what perils might be ahead for you if you don't take action now to protect what you have and what you will have in the future. We'll be making some important decisions with the information from this first lesson. You'll be learning the difference between owning your business versus retaining full control of it although it is technically owned by a Fresh Start Trust. There are a lot of different types of trusts established for many different reasons. You need to know specifically why a Fresh Start Trust is designed the way it is if you want to fully protect your business and other assets. There are five important parts to any trust. When you finish this first lesson, you will know the differences. Once you have that information you'll understand other important concepts that go into creating your own Fresh Start Trust. 7

8 What you will learn is not based on legal theory. Asset protection has been around for centuries. The rich use it all of the time so that they are not sued. These concepts have been tested in many court cases and by putting your Fresh Start Trust together following the step-by-step directions you'll be given, yours will stand up in court if need be. By the end of this very first lesson on Fresh Start Trusts, you will have the tools and knowledge you need to take immediate action. You won't need to wait to complete the entire ecourse. After this first lesson, you'll sleep better knowing you no longer need to worry about putting a bunch of hard work into a new business just to lose it in a lawsuit. Notice that I said we ll be making some critical decisions. I m going to personally help you one on one as we make our way through this initial lesson. By the end of your first eclass, you will be prepared to begin taking immediate action. Specifically, you ll have the following things in place Knowledge of why you want to take all the equity in your business out of your name. Each of the five important elements that go into a Fresh Start Trust and the important role each of them has. Grantor 8

9 Intention of the grantor (Trust document) Trustee Beneficiary Trust subject matter The big difference between revocable and irrevocable trusts and why making the Fresh Start Trust irrevocable makes all the difference from revocable trusts that offer no protection from lawsuits. What the big lenders are doing behind the scenes that could be disastrous for you if your business becomes successful and you don't have asset protection in place. The knowledge and tools you need to become an immediate action taker and be rewarded for being proactive. Major assets are always vulnerable to lawsuits. A great deal of free information about asset protection planning can be found on the internet. Most of it is simply wrong. In this ecourse you will learn what does work. What has already been ruled on by courts - setting precedent. The focus of this course is asset protection from creditors that are after you today or might come after you in the future. But the truth is, anyone can sue you and certain people will if they know you 9

10 have money or assets they can get at. If someone is injured by you or on your property (even if you do nothing wrong), you are likely to be sued by the injured victim or surviving family members. We all know accidents do happen. However, lawsuits are more likely when people know that you own valuable assets. You've come to the right place to discover how you can avoid becoming the next statistic of an overzealous lawsuit aimed at taking away everything you own. Let s begin with an explanation of what you should expect from this eclass 10

11 DEFINED: eclass DEFINED: An "eclass" is a time restricted, interactive, curriculum-driven course of study on a specialized topic. I realize that's a mouthful, so let me just explain things a bit more... Time Restricted. There is a predefined time for the eclass. It begins on a specific date and ends on a specific date. Generally, ecourses are 4 to 6 weeks Curriculum-Driven. There are periodic "lessons" delivered as downloadable PDF files and audio MP3 files that contain curriculum, which explains all relevant concepts and application for the topic, which is the focus of the study. My eclasses work like this On specific dates during the 4-6 week duration of the course, all students are delivered a copy of that week's lesson. This is usually a PDF with an audio MP3 version also provided for convenience. Students are asked to complete "assignments" which they are welcome to ask me questions about. 2. Students are allowed to contact our support DAILY with questions about applying the lessons to their specific situations and for assistance with completing the assignments. This is done through where we interact with every student one-on-one. 3. At the completion of the ecourse, you will have accomplished the specific goal of learning how to help yourself and others take the necessary action needed to assure businesses and personal assets are out of reach of creditors and lawsuits! Now let s dig into one of my favorite subjects.. Exactly What a Trust Is We hear the word Trust quite often in reference to protecting assets and minimizing taxes, but what is a trust exactly and how is it legally structured? Keep in mind that we are speaking in general terms here because of the many variations in trusts, state laws, and how different courts 11

12 view them. Fresh Start Trust General Description of a Trust There are four primary players or elements to a trust. They are: The Grantor The Trustee The Beneficiary The Trust Subject Matter The trust is a legal and separate entity from all the others. Some people find it easier to understand this concept by thinking of the trust as an "artificial person". People set up trusts for a variety of reasons. The three main reasons are to avoid an inheritance estate from having to go through probate, to minimize taxes, and to protect assets. The Fresh Start Trust ecourse primarily deals with asset protection although it also touches on estate planning and taxes where appropriate. Trusts are not a new legal concept. They have been around since at least medieval time. The history of trusts can be traced back to medieval ship captains, traveling merchants, and knights. All of these people and others needed a trusted individual to look after their assets while they were away from home and in the event they did not return. They did this by creating a contract that instructed 12

13 the trusted individual how to manage the traveler's estate. Although there are a lot more legalities surrounding trusts today, the concept is much the same. A trust is essentially a contract between the Grantor (sometimes called a settlor) and beneficiary that is administered by the trustee. The grantor initiates the trust by drawing up the contract and placing specific assets inside the trust. The contract is known as the "Trust Document" or "trust agreement". It specifies the who, what, where, when, why, and other conditions and terms for managing the assets. As you can see, there is enormous variation between individual trusts. This is definitely not a one-size-fits-all concept. The Trustee is an individual or law firm (many states allow it to be any competent adult) that the grantor entrusts the assets to. The trustee must follow the instructions established in the trust document. Generally, the trustee is obligated to manage the assets in the best interest of the beneficiaries. State statutes may or may not address the duties of the trustee. However, most of the law covering trustee's requirements is found in state case law or court opinions. The Beneficiaries are the people or thing that the trustee administers the contract for the benefit of. There are no restrictions on who the beneficiary is. It can be the grantor or their 13

14 children, spouse, grandchildren or a charitable organization or a university. The beneficiaries are the people that the trust distributes assets to (usually money) according to the trust document. The Trust Subject Matter. This is the asset the grantor places into the trust. It can be anything of value. Often it is money or stocks and bonds. But it doesn't have to be. It can be a valuable stamp collection or an operating business. It can change over time as the trustee follows the instructions in the trust document. Money in the trust can be invested in an operating business as an example. That is the model the Fresh Start Trust uses. The grantor places seed capital into the trust and the trustee is instructed to use the capital to create an operating business. The size of the business is irrelevant. It can be a small start up with a single employee or it can be a huge investment with hundreds of employees. We'll go into that later. Some trusts also have a protector. The grantor often takes on this role. The role of the protector is to remove the trustee and appoint 14

15 a new one if the need arises. Fresh Start Trust As you can see, the grantor and the trust document control what can and cannot be done with the assets within the trust. This gives the grantor great flexibility in what they dictate to the trustee. Some trusts are revocable and others are not. The Fresh Start Trust is an irrevocable trust. Revocable and Irrevocable Trusts A revocable trust is associated with what many people know as a living trust. This is done for estate planning and tax purposes. It offers no asset protection at all. Besides using this for tax purposes, it is used instead of an estate will to avoid the timely and often expensive court probate process that a will requires. People decide to use a revocable trust so that they can make changes while they are still alive. The reason revocable trusts don't work for asset protection is because if you lose a lawsuit, the judgment creditor (plaintiff) "steps into your shoes" in regards to all assets they are awarded. That means they take control of your assets. If your assets are in a revocable trust, they can and will revoke the trust to get at your assets to either sell them or take ownership. So let go of any ideas that you have of temporarily putting your assets into a trust. The Fresh Start Trust doesn't work that way. It is 15

16 an irrevocable trust. What makes a trust irrevocable Fresh Start Trust is that changes cannot be made once the grantor signs the trust documents and places the title to assets inside the trust. Ownership of any assets placed in the trust will remain with the trust until they are distributed according to the trust document. And the assets have to be distributed to the beneficiaries. That's were you come in. You can be the sole beneficiary or you can have multiple beneficiaries to include your spouse and children or whomever you want. There are specific ways the Fresh Start Trust is established to make it impenetrable to creditors. We'll go into that in the next module but now you understand the general structure of the Fresh Start Trust. Asset Protection The concept behind an irrevocable trust is one put forward by the Rockefeller family for generations. Asset protection is accomplished when you "Own Nothing But Control Everything". Joe Q. and Josephine Q. Public want to own lots of valuable assets. That sets them up for all kinds of lawsuits when they have deep pockets. The rich know that controlling lots of assets that they 16

17 benefit from is a much safer way to go. The world is transparent today. Almost anyone can learn what anyone else owns if it's of any real value like real estate or an operating business. If you own real estate in your name, I could more than likely gather a bunch of information about it without getting out of the chair in front of my computer. All I probably have to do is go to the website of your county recorder where I can look up your real estate records. At that site, I can learn how much real estate you own and get a good idea what it's worth from the assessed value. I can also see how long you have owned it, which gives me a good idea of how much equity you have in it. It's that simple in today's world. Same thing for any business you own in your name. Businesses are typically licensed by the state and local governments. I can go to their websites to look up information about your business if it is registered in your name. It really is a transparent world. Once I know that you have lots of assets, I can decide to sue you. Or if you already have creditors that you owe, they can use the same time saving techniques to get a quick picture of your worth. Then they will hire a private 17

18 investigator to dig deep and really find out what you are worth. If you lose the lawsuit, they can go even further. The winning plaintiff will ask for a "creditor's examination". This is a courtorder meeting between you and the creditor's attorney where they ask you questions about your finances. You have to tell them about bank and savings accounts. They'll ask if you own any stocks and bonds. They'll want to know about any businesses you own and a whole lot more. You're under oath, you have to tell them or if the court later learns you didn't or you out right lied, you will probably go to jail. You can't be put in jail just because you don't pay a creditor but you can be put in jail for perjury. Same thing for not showing up at the court date. A contempt of court warrant can be issue for you and you might end up in jail until the creditor examination is held. Really scary stuff so why take any chance of ending up there when you don't need to. If you don't own the assets they can't try to take them away for you. The truly rich use laws to protect their assets. They use Trusts and Limited Liability Companies and Corporations that they control and profit from to own their assets. These laws apply to everyone, not just the rich. 18

19 Trusts are a great way to protect assets. These are not public records. No website where creditors or ambulance chasers can go look at what assets you are protecting inside an irrevocable trust. The irrevocable trust documents are kept secure in an attorney's office. You'll probably want to keep your copy in a safe or safe deposit box. Instruct the trustee to do the same. The rich do it this way to control frivolous and real lawsuits. When the assets are owned by the trust, they can't be taken away by a court. Own Nothing but Control Everything! Concept of the Fresh Start Trust Okay, let's tie all of the information from this first lesson together. At the beginning of the lesson, we documented how millions and tens of millions of people have been financially ruined, often 19

20 through no fault of their own. They were laid off, had their house foreclosed, and to rub salt in the wounds, the banks and other lenders are threatening to sue them. They probably would sue but these people don't have anything to go after even if the big lenders win the lawsuit. The lenders are smart people, they must be, they earn $10 million bonuses every year even when their company is on the verge of bankruptcy. They know that most of the people that owe them money don't have any right now. They also know these same hardworking Americans will soon be pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Soon they will buy a home again. Some of the unemployed will decide to start their own business. Some of these people will make it big time. They could easily start earning six and even seven figure incomes by owning and running their own business. I hope one of them is you. But watch out. These multi-million dollar executives are waiting for exactly that to happen. These cold-hearted bankers will wait until there is something to go after before filing a lawsuit to recover deficiencies from foreclosures and short sales. People with tens of thousands in credit card debt they thought the lenders wrote off will start getting calls from collection agencies again threatening to take them to court to snatch the few assets they've been able to build up again. I don't want that to be you. I have a better idea that 20

21 I want to share with you. Fresh Start Trust It's the Fresh Start Trust. Over the next several lessons, I will share with you how the rich protect their assets. Now that, you understand how an irrevocable trust works, you will be shown stepby-step how to set one up that will protect a business that you work for but the Fresh Start Trust actually owns. You will control everything. You will be the beneficiary of your Fresh Start Trust. Besides your business, you can control and protect a home and other valuable assets inside your Fresh Start Trust. You Will Have Your Fresh Start and Your Old Creditors Won't Be Able to Ruin It For You! Your Assignment for This Module Read and familiarize yourself with the additional materials provided with this module. There is important information in those documents that you will want to know before starting your own business. Begin today to think about what type of business you will want to start based on what you believe a close relative will grant to your Fresh Start Trust. Send any questions or comments about the material to: support@getrapidhelp.com Keep your eye on your inbox, because you won t want to miss the eye-opening tips, tricks and secrets coming your way soon! 21

22 Richard Geller Publisher, Fresh Start Trust Fresh Start Trust P.S. Be sure to review all of the materials that are included with this curriculum package. You should have received three other files: 1. Fresh Start Trust Module 1 Checklist 2. Fresh Start Trust Module 1 What You Need to Know About Protecting Your Intellectual Property 3. Fresh Start Trust Module 1 Avoid Being Sued as a Small Business 22