Asset protection
 

I was thinking of a new asset protection strategy and wanted some opinions from fellow business people.

Company 1 - Holding corporation - Owns all realestate and other large assets.
Company 2 - Operating company - Leases assets from holding corporation.

Now I know this is standard corporate setup but I was wondering if having 2 or 3 shareholders / partners of the holding corporation (no one owning more than 49% of the shares) will add further asset protection in the case of one of the shareholder's having personal debt or other problems and their personal assets taken. From what I know, if they do not own 51% or more of the corporation, than the corporations assets cannot be touched. Hoping for some clarification or :2 cents:

People who really need asset protection can afford a decent lawyer / financial advisor :2 cents:

I like your idea. Obviously the other response is from someone who has no clue.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Or someone who is not going to lay out his own strategies on a board full of FTC and other government officials :1orglaugh

very true :thumbsup

And just to prove my point of wrong GFY information - his idea sucks and will bring even more trouble.

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...106540,00.html

Hey man what are you doing here, the posts in this thread didn't even hit double digits yet :winkwink:

What's wrong with it if the strategy is legal ?

It really all depends on who he's trying to protect the assets from :upsidedow

the ideal would be to build up those 2 corporations get them going and establish credit and have them run separate from you. meaning you aren't co-signing everything. Then you get investors and sell 51% or more of the shares or stack in the company. that would protect the company. it might not protect someone from getting your stack in the company

Its not really true. Even if you only own 1% of a corporation, and are not an insider or director, it might be true that the corp's assets are not yours and can't be taken for your debts.

None the less, YOUR shares of that corporation can be taken, and sold to the highest bidder, so you have lost those assets that were "protected" anyway.

It is definately a legal structure as long as it isn't set up while major debt starts to occur or for fraudulent purposes. I know how the holding company structure works but my main concern is having only 2 or 3 shareholder's all holding less than 49% of the shares of the holding company so it is protected against a company going after a shareholder for whatever reason and taking assets of the corporation other than the shares. I already consulted my lawyer on this but its good to have a second and third opinion.