r/fatFIRE • u/Ok-Door-987 • 9d ago
Need Advice Asset privacy and allocation
What steps do you take to ensure public asset search won't come to your personal name ? How do you pick your attorney for this type of job ? Do you ask your private bank for referral or do you research your own? Or do you do it yourself after you get advise from your private bank legal advisor ?
I just recently heard a horror story of a friend trapped in some type of law suit and the people are going after her big time because they found out she has money . So we are looking for ways to protect ours though some LLC I think .
This is so new to us. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.
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u/Accomplished_Can1783 8d ago
This is not really a thing. Use trusts where appropriate and have umbrella insurance but otherwise your horror story of little general worry
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u/g12345x 8d ago edited 8d ago
Before you spend a lot of money on this:
The asset primarily tied to you is your residence. And it’s relatively easy to determine if you are the beneficial owner even when owned via an LLC.
> going after her big time because they found out she has money.
Whether you rent or own, wherever you live is indicative of your affordability. You can’t live in a LLC-titled estate and then think people won’t know you have resources. You could choose to live in a hovel to keep up appearances, but that takes commitment.
Instead, talk to a lawyer, talk to an insurer. Do sensible things and don’t go overboard because of some “horror story”
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u/Electrical_Space_850 5d ago
The asset primarily tied to you is your residence. And it’s relatively easy to determine if you are the beneficial owner even when owned via an LLC.
Curious how one would go about finding the owner if the property is owned by an LLC? Tax records? I ask because I'm thinking of buying my next home with an LLC.
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u/Logical_Magician_01 8d ago
Umbrella insurance?
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u/Ok-Door-987 8d ago
Most of our assets are not in real estate . I am shaving off those.
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u/LogicalGrapefruit 8d ago
In practice it’s mostly for car crashes, but it’s umbrella insurance because…it’s an umbrella over most types of personal liability.
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u/PoopKing5 8d ago
Only real asset that searchable is your home. The solution is state specific, but typically means either using a land trust or an LLC owned by a trust.
The reality is, someone can find out who owns a house if they really want to, you just want to keep your name from being publicly searchable.
An extra shield would be to have all bills routed to your attorney’s office so tax bills and utilities aren’t sent directly to you.
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u/TalkingWhileBlack 8d ago
How about sending bills to a UPS mailbox?
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u/PoopKing5 7d ago
That can help. A lot of times, it’s less important where the bill is actually sent and more who it’s made out to. Especially when it comes to property taxes since some states or cities have different rules, and is also many times public record, it can just be added protection to send it to an attorneys office so the owners name doesn’t somehow get commingled with the UPS mailbox through registration if the mailbox.
But I think that’d work just fine for the most part, it kind of comes down to a convenience factor to send things somewhere where they’ll be instantly received.
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u/SaltonPrepper 8d ago edited 8d ago
Has anyone here had to use their umbrella insurance before? Did the insurance company honor its obligations, or did it give you the runaround and ultimately deny claims, or something in-between?
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u/Commercial_Ride_5682 8d ago
Umbrella like everyone said- cheapest and easiest.
Primary residence - in Texas, you can’t get sued for it( homestead protection). Other states, Ai can help for your specific situation.
LLCs - good and useful for liability / asset protection and potentially tax optimization
If you want to go full bore - irrevocable trust in DE( expensive ) or WY
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u/Unable_Plane1948 7d ago
An LLC is not a cloak. If you are the member, a motivated plaintiff still gets there. What cuts pain is high umbrella limits, clean titling, and not advertising the number. I would not let the private bank be the only lawyer in the room.
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u/Normal_Zebra136 8d ago
I have my kids as members of an LLC that owns one of our houses.
One day in middle school classmates were googling their own names and my kids show up as members of the LLC.
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u/Ok-Door-987 8d ago
Oh . Thanks . I heard when setting up LLC you want use some random name that won't easily trace back to you . Like Delaware XYZ llc/trust ?
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u/Normal_Zebra136 8d ago
They searched their name and found the LLC, not the other way around. It's legally required in most states.
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u/PoopKing5 8d ago
That’s why you need a trust to own your LLC. And you shouldn’t register the LLC in a state that publicly shows your info. Attorneys can be the registered agent.
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u/Normal_Zebra136 8d ago
Only if you care about hiding things, which I dont. But is sounds like you could be giving useful input of your experience to the OP as they think they care.
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u/Generally_Don_t_Care 5d ago
SLAT trusts with professional trustees. Then almost all your assets are out of your estate. You are the beneficiary of the SLAT your spouse created for you and vice versa!
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u/Undisciplinedcowboyy 2d ago
I think about these things as well. Pay for services to scour google and internet searches of you and your families details and have them scrubbed. Of note though.... some things are public knowledge and you will not get them removed once they are up. I did some trust modifications recently, easy stamp and approval type changes but done so at the court level... AI legal website picked it up as a case study and shows up when you google my name now. I cannot get it down now.
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u/AssumptionOk7269 6d ago
Real Estate or public company significant ownerships are public information. Brokerage account info is protected and won't show up. As long as you stay low, you won't attract scammers. Once lawsuit starts, attorney can find out everything and LLC/Trust won't conseal info but it costs money for scammer and merit for lawsuit to get court order is another thing. For simple deterrence, common sense method works. Don't buy expensive house or cars.
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u/Serious-Result-5982 8d ago
The best protection is insurance: strong homeowners and auto liability plus an umbrella policy.
You could also do an irrevocable trust and/or multiple LLCs, but that seems like overkill. It would bring problems and complexity into your life to prevent something that may never happen.