DOMESTIC ASSET PROTECTION

Since 1992, Tresp, Day & Associates has provided clients in San Diego, California, and across the United States, with domestic asset protection legal services.  Our attorneys have extensive experience preparing Domestic Security Trusts (DST), Master Protection Trusts (MPT), and Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPT) for a variety of clients.

Although an offshore trust is considered the strongest legal asset protection option, domestic asset protection trusts can provide adequate asset protection. The domestic asset protection lawyers at Tresp, Day & Associates, Inc can assess and guide you through the legal options that fit your unique needs.

Domestic Security Trust (DST)

A DST is an irrevocable trust that has been formed in the United States for basic asset protection, estate planning, estate tax, and tax considerations. Similar to other irrevocable asset protection trusts, the main purpose of a DST is to remove ownership over your assets. 

“Whoever owns asset A, can lose asset A.”

Our legal asset protection experts have assisted numerous clients establish DSTs in an effort to protect their estates from outside individuals or entities. A Domestic Security Trust removes asset ownership by creating a legally recognized “ultimate owner”. This means the Domestic Security Trust owns the assets. No individual or entity owns the Trust. 

A Domestic Security Trust stands alone and cannot have a judgement passed against it, protecting your estate from personal creditors. The only way a creditor can access a Domestic Security Trust is by claiming fraudulent conveyance. 

Tresp, Day & Associate’s estate attorneys strongly recommend protecting your assets by establishing a Domestic Security Trust long before a creditor comes after them. Look at it like establishing flood insurance before a flood comes along.  Buying insurance after the fact does nothing at all.

Often an additional entity such as an LLC, FLP, or a Corporation is created in conjunction with a DST. These enable complete control of all assets transferred into your newly created DST. These additional entities remove all legal asset ownership, rendering them lawsuit-proof while maintaining complete control of your estate. 

Domestic Security Trusts are ideal for clients who are ready to start making gifts to a future generation. Gifting through the trust has multiple benefits over making gifts outright; the client can retain more control, establish asset protection, and employ planning for estate tax purposes.

Master Protection Trust (MPT)

Similar to a Domestic Security Trust, a Master Protection Trust is ideal for individuals seeking protection similar to an Offshore Asset Protection Trust but are working with a limited budget. This distinction allows a Master Protection Trust to decant to an offshore jurisdiction at a later date. Meaning, an MPT can be established in the United States and later transferred to an offshore jurisdiction favorable to Offshore Asset Protection Trusts. These offshore jurisdictions are the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Nevis, and the Cook Islands.

Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT)

A Domestic Asset Protection Trust allows you to be the Primary Beneficiary of a self-settled trust during your lifetime. It is the only type of domestic irrevocable trust that allows this and is modeled after the Offshore Asset Protection Trust. Although DAPTs are modeled after the offshore version, they cannot carry the same level of protection because they remain under the jurisdiction of the United States Courts.

DAPTs are fairly new and are now available in 17 states. Those states consist of Nevada, Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

What is the best state to establish a Domestic Asset Protection Trust?

The experts at Tresp, Day & Associates favor the state of Nevada when establishing a Domestic Asset Protection Trust for your estate. Nevada has traditionally supported business owners’ rights to privacy, along with providing legal protection for their business entities.

Nevada’s courts have experience with DAPTs and a predisposition to accepting these rights while other states don’t. Nevada also has a two-year statute of limitations for fraudulent conveyance, compared to the standard four-year statute of limitations.