Blog

An asset protection trust is a legal structure designed to shield assets from future creditor claims. These trusts are often established by professionals in higher-risk industries, including physicians, attorneys, and business owners.

When direct evidence of fraudulent intent is unavailable, courts often rely on circumstantial indicators known as “badges of fraud.”

Individuals facing lawsuits, creditor claims, or financial disputes often look for ways to protect their assets. While estate planning and asset protection strategies can be lawful, they can become problematic when used to place assets beyond the reach of existing or foreseeable creditors.

In litigation, expert witnesses are hired by one side of a dispute, but their professional obligation is to remain objective.

Expert witnesses face increasing scrutiny in litigation, particularly in financial, valuation, and forensic accounting matters.

Even experienced forensic accountants, valuation analysts, and damages experts are vulnerable to cognitive bias. In litigation, these mental shortcuts can affect judgment, methodology selection, and testimony.

Recently, a Business Valuation Resources article cited a New York fair value trial case where “one of the 50% owners filed for dissolution and the other owner elected to buy him out.” However, the valuation expert for the owner who would remain with the business only used tax returns as a basis for his valuation.