Panama Asset Recovery Law

Panama asset protection structures using Panama Corporations and Panama Foundations are the most secure the world has to offer at this time - if they are done correctly by a competent law firm that has knowledge of all the circumstances that may come to bear on the structure and the client. There are also ways to use the Panama Corporation and the Panama Foundation along with Panama Bank Accounts and Panama Stock Brokerage accounts. If done correctly and used correctly the Panama Asset Protection structure will not be penetrable as a rule and will be able to sustain attacks by asset recovery law firms. As a creditor the question you need to ask yourself is if the Panama Asset Protection Structure was set up correctly and used correctly. With everything in life there is a right way and a wrong way to get things done. This may be a question you do not know the answer to and of course until we got into the case we would also not know the answer.

Non-Lawyer Asset Protection Structures - Lots of people get asset protection structures from websites where the entity they are dealing with is not a lawyer or a law firm. The website looks good, and they sell corporations in many jurisdictions but they are not lawyers. So first of all there is no attorney client privilege with the provider of the structure. In Panama a lawyer must form a corporation or foundation but a non lawyer agent can buy the corporation or foundation from a Panama Lawyer on behalf of a client. This is one chink in the armor that is often found. This asset protection flaw occurs frequently with resellers in many different countries. The non-lawyer has all the identity documents of the owner of the corporation and copies of the corporation are also generally kept in their file since they have legal responsibilities. This directly can directly tie or associate the person to an anonymous corporation. The corporate agent reseller has no attorney client privilege to protect their client. True a corporate agent could hire a lawyer to fight for the privacy of the client but do you really think they are going to spend $5,000 to $10,000 for some guy who bought a corporation from them or just simply turn over the records when subpoenaed. If they do put up a fight they have nothing like attorney client privilege to hide behind and have a good chance of losing so the thinking quickly goes to why bother. Try this with a lawyer and the lawyer gets mad, real mad and comes into court snarling with claws out. It is a worthwhile effort for the creditor to attempt to subpoena records from a non-lawyer reseller of asset protection structures since they might cave in without a fight, but there is no guarantee. Judges are sympathetic to attorney client privilege since they are lawyers themselves so this can be a futile expenditure of funds in an asset recovery case when a lawyer did the formation of the asset protection structure. Asking the judge as a creditor to open up records is a far cry from giving the court legal grounds in Panama to associate the person of interest to the asset protection structure directly as his or her structure and then show a relevant violation of Panama law on top of that. Panama law strongly favors the asset protection structure but again if it was not done correctly or used correctly that is another matter.

Use of the Panama Asset Protection Structure - This is another possible chink in the armor. When one deals with a non-lawyer there is generally no education as to the use of the structure set up for asset protection in Panama or anywhere else. This would be legal advice and they are not trained or qualified to do so. If they do give advice as to how to use an asset protection structure it runs a good chance of being faulty advice. These corporate resellers generally like to close sales and tell the client what they want to hear. Some mindful of the law tell the client nothing just selling them the asset protection structure.

Best Price Shoppers Some clients think a Panama Corporation, is a Panama Corporation is a Panama Corporation, period. They go out and buy from the lowest price law firm. The lawyer ships them off the corporation and/or foundation and hardly ever talks to the client let alone ever telling them anything about how to use the asset protection structure. Omissions of protective ingredients and layers are often left out. This often leads to mistakes which can be exploited.

Do It Yourself Asset Protection There are a lot of these around. They read a book or two on asset protection. Problem here is the books are generally out of date when read or even when printed. I have read some of these and they have the laws misinterpreted and even quoted incorrectly even using out of date laws. Makes one wonder about the authors. Some go to websites and read. Others call lawyers and go for consultations hoping to educate themselves in asset protection strategies. These people do well as long as trouble never comes knocking at their door. When trouble comes they find out they learned just enough about asset protection to get themselves into trouble.

Non-Disclosure Asset Protection Structures Many times the client will conceal relevant information from the attorney doing the asset protection structure. If the attorney has no knowledge of certain circumstances then he or she can not take any steps to correctly protect the assets.

Asset Protection Seminars There are a lot of seminars. They are given in exotic locations on the beach. Hundreds of people are there, most are real some are probably shills. These people teach the same tactics seminar after seminar after seminar. Old tricks. They charge exorbitant prices. They are rarely if ever lawyers. They lecture them on usage of the asset protection structure but their methods are generally designed to sound better than they are in reality. After the seminar is over the support is generally gone or greatly diminished. These seminars do not take the place of a personal relationship with an asset protection law firm and there could be some serious chinks in these asset protection structures which might be exploitable.

Panama Asset Recovery The way our law firm, Panama Legal works is first we review the case with you. We are interested in the highlights of the case. For conflict of interest reasons we would need to know the names of the persons or entities you wish to recover money from. If you wish to proceed gather together as much information as you can. We would be interested in any judgments, court orders, bankruptcy filings, public offerings, investment contracts, and judgment awards. Asset recovery is not an inexpensive venture; it is quite costly and can be time consuming. If the amount you are seeking to recover is not at least $2,500,000 as a minimum it is generally not a cost effective remedy to attempt asset recovery.

Smythe Bradley is an expat living in The Republic of Panama. He has published many articles on offshore asset protection in panama, panama visas and residency, as well as many other expat issues.