Protect assets with structure built before anyone needs it.
Everything a business owner has built — the company, the real estate, the savings, the family's security — sits behind whatever structure was in place the day a claim arrived. We design that structure in layers, while things are good: the right entities in the right states, assets separated from operating risk, insurance that meets the claim first, and trusts, exemptions, and privacy where they fit. Implementation runs through licensed professionals.
Protection is layers, timing, and discipline.
No single tool protects an owner. An LLC without formalities, insurance without an umbrella, a trust created after the lawsuit — each fails on its own. Real protection stacks the layers so a claim meets insurance first, then a properly maintained entity, then assets held apart from the risk that generated the claim, with trusts and exemptions behind those.
Timing is the rule that governs all of it: structures are built while you are solvent and no claim is pending, threatened, or reasonably foreseeable. Transfers made after that point can be reversed. Ten strategies below, ordered roughly from the most universal to the most specialized.
Entity Structure
The right entity, in the right state, with an operating agreement drafted for protection — and run with the formalities courts look for.
The right entity, in the right state, with a properly drafted operating agreement can separate business liabilities from personal savings. We help owners select and set up structures — including Wyoming close LLCs, where a creditor's remedy is limited to a charging order — run them with the formalities courts look for, and engage licensed counsel where required. The state of formation and the operating agreement matter as much as the filing.
Applies when: Sole proprietors and partnerships, single-member LLCs on template agreements, entities formed in weak-statute states, or owners who commingle funds.
What we do: Entity and state-of-formation selection
What we do: Operating agreements drafted for protection, through counsel
What we do: Formation coordination and initial governance
What we do: Veil-piercing risk review of existing entities
Real estate, equipment, IP, and reserves held apart from operating risk, so one claim does not expose the rest.
Separating operating risk from valuable assets — real estate, equipment, intellectual property, reserves — means a claim against one activity does not automatically expose the rest. We design holding-company and multi-entity structures sized to your actual risk, including series structures where the state supports them, with arm's-length arrangements between the pieces.
Applies when: Real estate, equipment, or IP sit inside the operating company, several locations run under one entity, or digital assets sit in personal accounts.
What we do: Holding and operating company separation
What we do: Property-per-entity and series structures where available
What we do: IP-holding entities with license-back arrangements
What we do: Leases and agreements between related entities, through counsel
Separate accounts, real records, and annual formalities — the habits that keep the liability shield intact.
A structure only protects if it is respected. Courts look past entities that are treated as the owner's pocket: mixed funds, missing agreements, unfiled reports, decisions never documented. We install the operating discipline — separate banking, clean books, governance records, compliance calendars, registered agents, licenses — and the systems that keep it running without the owner's attention.
Applies when: Personal and business money mix, annual filings are a scramble, or the operating agreement has not been opened since formation.
What we do: Banking, bookkeeping, and fund-separation setup
What we do: Governance records and annual formalities
What we do: Compliance calendar across every entity and state
What we do: Licenses, registered agents, and reporting kept current
The first layer of any plan and the one most owners under-buy — reviewed and coordinated with your broker.
Insurance is the first layer of any protection plan and the one most owners under-buy. We can review your liability, professional, cyber, and employment coverage, identify the gaps, and coordinate umbrella policies with your broker, so a claim meets a policy before it reaches your assets.
Applies when: Every operating business.
What we do: Coverage-gap review across general, professional, cyber, and employment liability
What we do: Commercial and personal umbrella coordination
What we do: Additional-insured and vendor requirements
What we do: Annual coverage review as the business changes
Many claims are decided by paperwork signed years earlier — indemnities, caps, and personal guarantees.
Many claims are decided by paperwork signed years earlier. We review customer, vendor, and lease agreements for indemnities, liability caps, and dispute terms, and help you limit the personal guarantees lenders and landlords request — signing in the entity's capacity, capping guarantees, and negotiating burn-offs — with counsel engaged on the documents themselves.
Applies when: Any owner signing leases, credit lines, or customer contracts, especially with personal guarantees attached.
What we do: Contract template review for liability and indemnity terms
What we do: Personal-guarantee limits, caps, and burn-off negotiation
What we do: Signing-authority and capacity practices
What we do: Counsel coordination on the agreements
Texas already shields certain assets — homestead, retirement accounts, life insurance — when wealth is positioned to use them.
Texas already shields certain assets from most creditors — a homestead, qualified retirement accounts, life insurance and annuity values, and a set amount of personal property. Positioning wealth to use these exemptions is often the simplest, lowest-cost protection available, and it applies without any structure at all. Other states' schedules differ.
Applies when: Texas-domiciled owners with home equity or retirement savings, or anyone whose personal wealth is concentrated in exposed accounts.
What we do: Exempt-asset inventory against your state's schedule
What we do: Positioning plan coordinated with your financial and legal advisers
What we do: Retirement and insurance vehicle review
What we do: Gaps identified for entities, trusts, and coverage to close
Irrevocable trusts that hold business interests, real estate, and investments for your family — designed with succession and tax goals together.
Irrevocable trusts can hold business interests, real estate, and investments for your family while removing them from your personal balance sheet. We coordinate with estate-planning attorneys so protection, succession, and tax goals are designed together — including domestic asset-protection trusts in the states that offer them, and the buy-sell and successor provisions that keep a business running if something happens to its owner.
Applies when: Meaningful net worth outside the business, succession concerns, high-liability professions, or a business with no plan for the owner's absence.
What we do: Trust strategy coordinated with estate counsel
What we do: Domestic asset-protection trust evaluation by state
What we do: Buy-sell, successor-manager, and continuity provisions
Legitimate financing that reduces exposed equity in debt-free assets while keeping the funds working.
Assets with large unencumbered equity are the most attractive targets. Legitimate financing — a secured commercial line, or a recorded loan from an affiliated entity — can reduce exposed equity while keeping funds working for you, with proceeds redeployed into exempt or trust-held assets. Every arrangement must be a real debt on real terms: consideration, documentation, perfected liens, and actual payments.
Applies when: Debt-free real estate or equipment, strong cash flow, and low leverage.
What we do: Exposed-equity analysis across holdings
What we do: Financing structure design with lenders and counsel
What we do: Documentation and lien perfection standards
What we do: Redeployment plan for proceeds
Ownership Privacy
Keep your name and home address off public state filings — while remaining fully known to your bank, the IRS, and any court.
Some states publish owner names on every filing; others do not. Where it fits your goals, we can structure ownership so your name and home address stay off public state records — through the state of formation, manager-managed structures, registered-office addresses, and trust ownership — while remaining fully known to your bank, the IRS, and any court. Public-record privacy is a safety and nuisance measure, not creditor protection, and we keep the two distinct. We also bring data-privacy hygiene to the tools and vendors the business uses.
Applies when: Public profiles, landlords, professionals facing harassment, or anyone whose home address appears on state filings today.
What we do: State and structure selection for public-record privacy
What we do: Registered-office and manager-managed arrangements
What we do: Trust-as-member structures through counsel
What we do: Data-privacy review of business tools and vendors
For substantial assets and elevated exposure, a properly reported international trust or company adds a jurisdictional layer.
For owners with substantial assets and elevated exposure, a properly reported international trust or company can add a jurisdictional layer domestic tools cannot. These structures are established while solvent, fully disclosed to the IRS, and administered by licensed foreign trustees we coordinate on your behalf. They are tax-neutral for U.S. persons, and they are not for everyday liability planning — the phrase to remember is properly reported international planning, not offshore secrecy.
Applies when: High-net-worth owners in high-liability fields, with no pending or foreseeable claims and a documented solvency review.
What we do: Suitability and solvency review before anything is formed
What we do: Jurisdiction and structure design with licensed foreign and U.S. counsel
What we do: Trustee and administrator coordination
What we do: Full U.S. reporting coordinated with a credentialed preparer
Protection is lost in the details — a missed filing, a commingled account, a lapsed policy, a document nobody can find. AI keeps the discipline that makes the structure hold.
Compliance calendars for every entity: annual reports, registered agents, franchise filings, renewals
Bookkeeping agents that keep each entity's funds separate and its records clean
Document systems that keep operating agreements, minutes, leases, and policies current and findable
Contract review agents that flag personal guarantees, indemnities, and liability terms before you sign
Insurance and coverage tracking so nothing lapses quietly
Data-privacy hygiene across the tools and vendors your business uses
Does an LLC protect my personal assets? A properly formed and maintained LLC generally shields members from the company's debts, and in states like Wyoming a member's creditor is limited to a charging order on distributions. Protection weakens if funds are commingled, formalities are ignored, or the owner signs personal guarantees. The state of formation and the operating agreement matter as much as the filing.
Can I protect assets after I have been sued? Transfers made after a claim is known, threatened, or reasonably foreseeable can be reversed under fraudulent-transfer law, with personal liability and court sanctions. Planning must occur while you are solvent and no claim is pending. If you already face a claim, the correct step is defense counsel, not restructuring.
Are offshore trusts legal for U.S. citizens? Yes, when established while solvent and fully reported to the IRS on forms such as the FBAR and Form 3520. They are tax-neutral, and U.S. courts retain authority over the person who created them. They suit high-exposure owners with substantial assets, not everyday liability planning.
Do Texas business owners get any protection automatically? Texas exempts a homestead, qualified retirement accounts, life insurance and annuity values, and a capped amount of personal property from most creditors. These apply without any structure but do not cover business assets, rental property, or bank balances. Coordinating exempt assets with entities and insurance closes those gaps.
Is MercConsulting a law firm? No. MercConsulting is a business consulting firm. We design the protection strategy, coordinate the licensed attorneys, CPAs, and insurance professionals each piece requires, and build the operating discipline that keeps the structure intact. Legal documents are drafted by licensed counsel.
MercConsulting is a business consulting firm, not a law firm or insurance agency. Asset protection strategies are planned before any claim exists, depend on your facts and state law, and are implemented with licensed attorneys, CPAs, and insurance professionals where required. Nothing here is legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.