Asset Protection Terms and Definitions

Marital Trusts
A marital trust is used to benefit the surviving spouse of the person who dies. There are many reasons for creating such a trust-- to provide asset protection for the surviving spouse, or to ensure that your children are the ultimate beneficiaries of your estate.

Living trust
A trust that is established while the grantor is still alive. Compare to testamentary trust.

Asset Allocation
When you divide your money among various types of investments, such as stocks, bonds, and short-term investments (also known as "instruments"), you are allocating your assets. The way in which your money is divided is called your asset allocation.

Municipal bond
An investment security for which a state or local government promises to pay an amount at maturity (usually more than five years in the future) with interest, in return for a current investment. Municipal bonds are generally tax-free, but not always.

Portfolio
A collection of securities assembled for an investment goal.

Revocable Trust
In a living, or revocable trust, you name yourself as the grantor, the trustee, and the current beneficiary. You then transfer some or all of your assets to the trust. The terms of the trust require that the trust is to be used for your benefit during your life. After your death, the living trust continues for the benefit of your intended beneficiaries.

Offshore Financial Centers OFC
A recent study found that by the end of 1997, the share of cross-border assets held in the offshore sector ($4.8 trillion) accounted for more than half of all cross-border assets held globally.

Tax exempt entity
To hold the protected assets. The stock in this tax exempt entity can be held by an asset protection trust. As a result, the stock does not show up on the balance sheet of the taxpayer and the income from the assets is likewise off the tax return of the protected client.

Beneficiary
The person who receives the benefits or gifts from an estate, insurance policy, IRA, pension plan, or trust.

Spendthrift Trusts
A spendthrift trust is created specifically to provide asset protection for the beneficiary. These trusts are written so that the beneficiary can receive the benefit of the trust, but have no right to demand benefits from the trust.