Customizing Your Documents
After your business entities are in place, or your business foundation is laid, your lawyer can begin drafting numerous customized legal documents, such as the entities’ bylaws, operating agreements, or other types of documents that govern both the interactions and operations of the properly selected and formed entities to best meet your constantly changing vision and expectations. These customized legal documents serve as the glue (so to speak) to your properly laid foundation. Be cautious. The average attorney may merely provide you with form documents that serve as very weak adhesive when potential litigation arises, making you and your medical practice an easy target. The experienced asset protection lawyer should customize your legal documents to ensure your plan is comprehensive and complex enough to confuse the greedy, slimy predator, and also ensure that your plan can the endure the heat of litigation.
After your comprehensive business plan foundation is in place, your lawyer can then proceed by implementing advanced internal strategies that serve as additional layers in terms of asset isolation and asset protection. Some of the many possibilities include the following strategies discussed below.
Recapitalization
Recapitalization is one of many advanced internal strategies that can be implemented. To give you a general overview of recapitalization, a knowledgeable asset protection lawyer can take a properly selected entity and have that entity create obligations against key assets, thereby leveraging these assets. These obligations then serve as additional barriers for the creditors and predators.
Dilution
Dilution is another advanced internal strategy that involves a particular entity owned by one owner. Under particular circumstances, an asset protection lawyer can take that one entity and divide the ownership among several other owners. Now these owners could be individuals or they could be other properly selected business entities. The lawyer would then customize the necessary legal documents to govern the interactions and operations of these individuals and entities to best meet your business goals. This internal strategy also serves as litigation deterrence in that the creditor or predator in the very early stage of the game will realize the dilution of the interest and deem it pointless to hire an attorney to attempt to go after the diluted interest. Moreover, most attorneys do not like to take on a case in which they feel there is no likelihood of recovery or collection from the physician and/or payment from their client.
