Although PF Shield’s asset protection methods are designed to be as universally applicable and effective as possible, one should realize that laws vary from state to state.
For example, PF Shield often recommends that a person equity strip their hard assets in order to protect them from creditor attack. However, in New York, if you do this on your home, in the form of a 2nd mortgage, you will trigger a 2% mortgage tax. So stripping your property of $100,000 of equity will cost you an extra $2,000, which goes to the state (fortunately, New York is the only state we know of that does this.)
Another example of the effect of local law on an asset protection strategy is Texas’s homestead exemption laws. In Texas, the homestead exemption for a home is 100% of its value. Normally, this is a very good thing, except for the fact that although your homestead is protected from private and state government creditor attack, it is NOT protected from a federal court, which is a considerable shortcoming. An attempt to rectify this shortcoming is frustrated by the fact that you cannot file a lien on a homestead-exempted property. There are a very few exceptions to this, for example you can file a lien on a homestead property if you are a bank that is mortgaging the home. Nonetheless this type of lien is filed under very strict regulation.
Is there a workaround for this? Of course there is – there is always a workaround, so that you can have asset protection and financial privacy while still complying with local laws. However, in order to implement the correct workaround, we need to know what laws we are working with. And since there are 50 states, which have state laws that are constantly changing, it is impossible for PF Shield, or any other asset protection firm, to always be aware of what local laws are.
As a result, it is always a good idea to check with a local attorney and CPA, so that one may be fully aware of the legal and tax ramifications of any asset protection program in light of local laws. In most cases, no more than a half hour consultation is required from each local professional, in order to learn what these ramifications are, and doing this may save you a major headache down the road.