Asset Protection & Attorney Advice as Part of your Team
Today we welcome Jonathan Feniak. He's an attorney and partner at ColoradoLLCAttorney.com. In this position, he helps business owners at nearly every level, and in nearly every industry with asset protection, estate planning, and business formation.
The reason I brought Jonathan in all the other different types of podcasts that I've had, I've talked about having a team and having an attorney, a good attorney, is part of your team that you will need whether you invest passively or actively whether you're a general partner, limited partner, whether you own a business, a reputable attorney is part of your team.
Despite being an attorney today, Jonathan will readily admit that he never planned on becoming one. And unlike other supposedly “accidental” lawyers, Jonathan has the track record to prove it. Look over his backstory and you’ll see that law is actually his third career.
In this episode, we’re discussing…
· [2:18] Why do we need an attorney on our team, if we’re investors
· [4:14] What type of expertise they have and issues they usually handle when people call for help
· [7:12] Entity formation and how it works
· [9:45] The importance of the LLC when you have more than 3 rental homes
· [14:25] What happens with LLC when you have 25 properties and have limited partners and how it works
· [17:55] Asset protection types with LCC and the laws in different states
· [22:47] Estate planning and some advantages to protect your wealth and stay anonymous
· [27:26] How to find a specialized attorney for asset protection and LLC states policy
· [32:01] Jonathan can talk to anyone about asset protection in general and some techniques that are broadly applicable across the entire country
Jonathan’s Top Tip’s:
· “We offer to our clients and then trying to really extend attorneys into markets where they traditionally have sort of been inaccessible by a lot of people”
· “We tell you exactly what it's going to cost. You don't have to worry about is this 10 hours, 100 hours, how many hours are going to take we know how long these things take because this is really focused area of practice. And so that's what our clients are, are getting out of this. And at the very least, they're going to be spending a heck of a lot less than the other side, whoever they're negotiating with on the same transaction and getting an equal or superior quality of work”
· “We think that shielding those assets from the potential claims of plaintiffs’ attorneys is gonna put you in a much better-negotiating position when it comes time to, settlement, assuming you did something wrong, But sometimes, even if it didn't do something wrong, the better strategies to settle, just to make it go away because your time is valuable”
· “There are two kinds of liability that most people experience in their life or that are subject to, and one's going to be a personal liability, you're driving around your car, you get in an accident, you've got an insurance policy, and we can't stress it enough, the first barrier for your personal assets is going to be an insurance policy”
· “The other liability we have is which flows from the assets themselves from the business assets, you own a rental property, and someone's you know, slips and falls, what can they get from that suit?
· “You've got four LLCs, then great, those pockets of liability are going to be isolated from each other, they're not going to be able to go after the assets or across liability to those other LLCs, they're not going to get up into the Wyoming holding company and then to you.
· “I think there is a decision to be made about what is the best allocation of your funds, if you've got properties with limited equity in them, then I'm okay with bundling them together, I have clients and you've got four condos in one building. And those four condos, your liability is really pretty low your common area liability is going to be one where it's going to fall onto the building.
· “People make mistakes, and there's negligence that we all engage in on a daily basis. At that point, a Wyoming asset protection trust can act as a family office, where you're not just talking about your wealth, you're talking about multi-generational wealth now. And it's a great way to remove those assets from the liability you generate by walking around the world or interacting with the world”
· “Florida does not allow for the creation of anonymous LLC Wyoming does, and Colorado as well. And so, we act as the organizer for our clients. But then using that in a state that doesn't allow for the anonymous formation of LLC, you use your holding company as the member in Florida. And then we act as the manager, who will immediately resign after formation and assign those, the manager duties to you. And so, in that way, you keep your name out of the Secretary of State records.”
· “If you got an LLC operating agreement that says there, the creditor can't do this, or creditor can't do that. That can be a powerful tool in front of a judge. When you start getting into partnerships with other individuals, it's not your spouse, even if it is, maybe you still want an operating agreement with your spouse who's in charge. I think you need to sort of taking a step back every time you're putting capital at risk and say: Is this the best way to do this? How am I limiting my risk in this endeavor?”
Resources from Jonathan
Colorado LLC Attorney | LinkedIn | Email
ABOUT JONATHAN FENIAK
Jonathan Feniak is an attorney and partner at Colorado LLCAttorney.com. In this position, he helps business owners at nearly every level and in nearly every industry with asset protection, estate planning, and business formation. Beyond business owners, Jonathan also helps activists of all political persuasions to legally protect
themselves. Despite being an attorney today, Jonathan will readily admit that he never planned on becoming one. And unlike other supposedly
“accidental” lawyers, Jonathan has the track record to prove it. Look over his backstory and you’ll see that law is actually his third career.
Career #1 was spent at International delivery firm DHL as a District Operations Manager. Working in Manhattan, Jonathan was responsible for three facilities with hundreds of employees. A typical day would see him meeting planes at the airport at 3 AM, taking calls around the clock, and doing whatever was needed to support the daily delivery of tens of thousands of packages throughout his designated area alone.
What about on an untypical day? That would have been 9/11, a day when Jonathan’s leadership abilities were put to the test. With his delivery area including the Twin Towers, Jonathan managed to keep his
teams united and on track, even amid the horrific events transpiring around them. And that’s just one moment from his first career.
Career #2 followed Jonathan’s earning of an MBA and his subsequent transition into the financial services sector. Working at Wells Fargo Advisors, along with several boutique investment firms; Jonathan became well-versed in everything from deal structuring and asset management to life insurance and annuities.
Jonathan might have remained in the financial services sector were it not for a startling realization he had. This was the realization that the average person or business owner has deep unmet needs when it
comes to the law. Such an individual often needs a reliable source of legal advice. Yet they cannot afford to have an attorney on retainer and
frankly, don’t need to keep one on retainer either. Driven by a desire to address this unmet need, Jonathan embarked on
Career #3. Venturing into the legal world, he worked first at a promising legal tech startup (Term Scout) and later at the law firm of Lewis, Bess, Williams & Weese. These experiences, along with earning a law degree, led Jonathan at last to his current role at ColoradoLLCAttorney.com.