Article On Federalism And Domestic Asset Protection Trusts

Alexander B. Shiffman recently published an article entitled, The Domestic Asset Protection Trust and its federalism implications, 13 Cardozo Pub. L. Pol’y & Ethics J. 853-879 (2015). Provided below is an excerpt from the article:

One of the inevitable consequences of a financial meltdown is the staggering increase in individuals who are unable to cover the liabilities they have incurred. This trend is most recently evidenced by the number of bankruptcy filings in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. For the three years immediately following the collapse of this country’s financial infrastructure, non-business bankruptcy filings throughout the nation, increased from approximately 823,000 in 2007 ¹ to 1.4 million in 2009. ² While the desire to shield one’s assets from their forfeiture to one’s creditors has long been a sought after objective, a pivotal event such as the 2008 collapse, has the tendency to reinvigorate the importance of asset protection, and to inspire creative methods to achieve what seems to be the ultimate goal of increasing leverage while minimizing if not completely eliminating exposure. With the most recent uptick in this asset-security motivated behavior, the development of a new means of protection has sparked significant controversy and repercussions that have the potential of spanning to other fields of law.