Question 5
Is there anything I can do to protect my personal assets from the risk of business failure?
The laws of bankruptcy control what is possible in these situations, but the use of a simple Family Trust can often be enough to protect family assets from being claimed by creditors should the family business run into problems at some point in the future. There are certain time limits that need to be observed before the assets are deemed to be protected and the person gifting the assets to the Trust must be acting in good faith throughout. It is not possible simply to move assets to a trust just before a business fails and expect the assets to be free of any claim from creditors. The protection of assets is something that should be considered from the start rather than simply when there is a real risk of the family business running into problems.
