Beyond Basic Trusts: Paul Advisory & Legal Group PLLC’s Advanced Protection Stack for UHNW Families

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Subali Ibnu Chamid

Fortunes built over decades can fracture in a single lawsuit. A personal guarantee is called, a partnership dispute escalates, a creditor arrives armed with forensic accountants and litigation funding. For ultra-high-net-worth families, asset protection is about architecture: layered, coordinated, and built to withstand scrutiny.

Paul Advisory & Legal Group PLLC has positioned itself around that architecture. The firm focuses on enhanced asset protection for clients facing potential or active legal exposure, integrating domestic secured lending, offshore trusts, and structured assignments into a unified system. Its core service: equity stripping is deployed as part of a disciplined balance-sheet strategy.

Evan Paul, Managing Partner, frames the reality without theatrics. “Ultra-high-net-worth clients are dealing with sophisticated claimants,” he says. “If the structure is thin, it won’t hold. It has to be layered and defensible.”

When Basic Structures Collapse

Traditional planning once relied on forming an LLC, transferring real estate or business interests into it, and layering an offshore trust in jurisdictions like the Cook Islands or Nevis. For years, this was seen as formidable.

Today, creditors dig deeper: examining timing, intent, and economic substance. Lightly structured LLCs or superficially funded trusts can be obvious targets.

Paul Advisory & Legal Group PLLC builds beyond that first layer. The firm emphasizes that protection must be rooted in bona fide transactions, documented obligations, and real economic relationships. Cosmetic transfers and last-minute restructuring rarely survive litigation. Planning done in advance, with commercial logic and compliance embedded into it, stands on stronger ground.

“Equity stripping only works when it’s real,” Paul explains. “There has to be genuine documentation, genuine servicing, and economic substance. Otherwise, it’s vulnerable.”

Domestic Secured Lending Overlays

The firm’s first pillar focuses on domestic secured lending overlays. Instead of leaving real estate or operating companies with accessible equity, it structures legitimate secured debt against those assets, using promissory notes, recorded mortgages, and UCC filings. Payments are tracked and servicing maintained.

The result is practical: properly documented obligations make assets less attractive to contingent-fee lawyers or judgment creditors. Crucially, these structures are implemented proactively, before disputes arise, distinguishing lawful balance-sheet engineering from actions courts might view as suspect. When done correctly, equity stripping shifts litigation risk without violating the law.

Offshore Trust Coordination and Assignment Mechanics

Offshore trusts remain central, with the Cook Islands and Nevis offering statutes that challenge outside creditors. Paul Advisory & Legal Group PLLC integrates these trusts with domestic secured positions and assignments to form a cohesive system.

Assets are assigned under agreements reflecting commercial logic, and income can flow through enforceable notes into trusts. Trustees hold defined powers, and domestic entities manage operations. Every element demonstrates separation while preserving operational continuity.

“Control and protection are not mutually exclusive,” Paul says. “Families want oversight. They want continuity. Our job is to introduce separation that courts respect, while preserving practical management where appropriate.”

Servicing mechanics become critical. Who makes payments, under what terms, and how those transactions are recorded can determine whether a structure withstands challenges.

Courts look beyond labels. A coordinated system of secured debt, documented assignments, and properly administered offshore trusts carries a different profile than isolated entities assembled without integration.

Preserving Wealth Without Illusion

Ultra-high-net-worth families seek durability: businesses must operate, properties generate income, and governance must function across generations. Modern protection stacks recognize wealth must be structured.

Paul Advisory & Legal Group PLLC builds on this premise, focusing on equity stripping and disciplined cross-border structuring, with a goal of becoming a nationally recognized enhanced asset protection firm.

For these families, the difference between a single layer and a coordinated stack can determine whether a claim results in a settlement, standoff, or strategic retreat.

Disclaimer: Written in partnership with APG.