Fraudulent Transfer Issues

The area of fraudulent transfers is fraught with potential issues and traps. For more than 25 years, the attorneys at Weisman, Young & Ruemenapp, P.C. have been assisting clients with the navigation of this minefield as part of their asset protection planning practice.

But for the Fraudulent Transfer Act there would be no need for asset protection planning. A debtor could, at the time a creditor is about to begin collection action, simply gift away his or her assets to relatives and friends thus leaving the creditor with no effective mechanism to insure payment. And while debtors may lament the broad sweep of the Fraudulent Transfer Act it is, in the end, a very necessary law to insure the viability of commercial transactions and in particular lending and finance.

Fraudulent transfer laws have been adopted in every state. They all provide in one way or another that a transfer made with the intent to hinder, delay or defraud a creditor is fraudulent. In almost all cases an aggrieved creditor's remedy is to undo the transfer and have the transferred property disgorged by the recipient.

Asset protection planning will only be effective if the attorney takes into account the full effect and impact of fraudulent transfer laws. To initiate a plan without a thorough consideration of the fraudulent transfer issue causes problems for both the client and the attorney. The client faces the risk that the assets he transferred which he thought were protected may not be; the attorney who creates an asset protection plan which incorporates fraudulent transfers faces ethical issues for conspiring to commit a fraud. For this reason, many asset protection lawyers shy away from accepting clients that have large debts or pending claims against them. Their thinking is that any planning they do for the client will inevitably involve some form of fraudulent transfer and therefore they don't want to become involved.

At Weisman, Young & Ruemenapp we pride ourselves on helping the distressed client. While we are extremely sensitive to avoiding any transaction that involves a fraudulent transfer, and we will not knowingly participate or assist in any transaction that we believe constitutes a fraudulent transfer, we have developed creative and innovative strategies that can significantly enhance the client's retention of assets without any violation of the law. Please contact us at 248.258.2700 so we may use our knowledge to assess your situation and determine the best way to protect your assets from creditors.