Michigan Asset Protection Lawyer Blog
One of the most difficult issues facing a Michigan asset protection lawyer is how to help a client who is already in severe financial distress with banks and other creditors breathing down her neck. We all know that any tranfers made with the intent to delay, hinder or defraud the creditor will be a fraudulent transfer subject to the remedies of the Fraudulent Transfer Act. Are there any techniques that can be used at this stage that will provide asset protection to the debtor but avoid or at least withstand a fraudulent transfer challenge. A couple of lawyers in Boston believe so and this author agrees with them.
Alexander Bove and Melissa Langa assert in their June 2009 article appearing in Trusts & Estates Magazine that a post-nuptial agreement may provide a solution. It is suggested that a debtor spouse can transfer assets to a non-debtor spouse in consideration of the non-debtor spouse entering into a post-nuptial agreement provided there is adequate consideration and the post-nuptial agreement otherwise conforms to the requirements of state law. Their premise is that marital rights accrue and gradually vest over the course of the marriage and there is no reason the couple cannot agree to formally acknowledge the existence of those rights and transfer property to reflect their actual legal interests. Perhaps it is best understood if you consider a 25 year marriage where significantly all of the assets, which were generated during the marriage, are titled in the name of the debtor spouse. It is well accepted that a long-term marriage such as this one would entitle each spouse to 1/2 of the marital estate in the event of a divorce. If such is the case, why shouldn’t they be able to effect a transfer of assets to reflect this legal reality.
Certainly an aggrieved creditor will claim the transfer was a fraudulent transfer and that it was made with the intent to defraud the creditor. However, a transfer for fair consideration is not a fraudulent transfer. Moreover, a transfer which merely reflects or confirms the existing rights of the parties in and to the property also may not be a fraudulent transfer. And so the question becomes whether these arguments will defuse an aggressive creditor. While each case is different it is fair to conclude that the post-nuptial agreement and accompanying asset transfer will certainly pose an obstacle for the creditor and an opportunity to negotiate a settlement for less than the full amount of the claim…one of the goals of asset protection planning.