Protect Your Assets From Lawsuits, Creditors & Divorce
Wyoming's DAPT statute offers the strongest asset protection in the U.S. Set up your trust with an attorney who has spent 42 years attacking and defending wealth structures.
Your Success Has Made You a Target
If your net worth exceeds $1 million (outside of your home and pension), you're at risk. Traditional estate planning offers zero protection against:
- Lawsuits — When liability claims exceed your insurance limits, creditors come for your personal assets
- Divorce — A spouse can claim half of everything you've spent a lifetime building
- Business failure — Personal guarantees bridge directly to your personal estate
Most people wait until it's too late. By then, transferring assets looks like fraud and judges won't allow it.
"I have watched families lose tens of millions of dollars because they failed to put into place a comparatively inexpensive system to save that wealth." - Mark Pierce, Wyoming Trust Attorney
What is a Wyoming DAPT?
A Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT) is a legal structure that separates your assets from your personal ownership while letting you retain indirect control and benefit from them.
Wyoming was one of the first states to adopt DAPT legislation, and today it offers the strongest protections in the country:
- 4-month statute of limitations — The shortest creditor challenge window of any state
- No state income tax — Wyoming has no income, inheritance, or capital gains tax on trust assets
- Self-settled trust allowed — You can be both the grantor and a beneficiary
- 1,000-year dynasty provision — Protect wealth for generations, not just your lifetime
- No residency requirement — You don't have to live in Wyoming to benefit
- Full faith and credit — Other states are constitutionally required to respect Wyoming law
Why Creditors Can't Touch Your Assets
Here's why the structure works — broken down simply:
1. The Trust (DAPT)
You establish a Domestic Asset Protection Trust under Wyoming statutes. This is the vehicle that holds your assets. You and your family are beneficiaries, but you don't have a direct ownership interest. No ownership interest = nothing for creditors to claim.
2. The Trustee (Private Family Trust Company)
Wyoming allows you to create a Private Family Trust Company (PFTC) to serve as trustee. You act as the manager of the PFTC in a fiduciary capacity — meaning you control the assets indirectly, but you're acting on behalf of the trust, not yourself.
3. The Ownership Layer (Non-Charitable Specific Purpose Trust)
The PFTC itself is owned by a Non-Charitable Specific Purpose Trust — a trust with no beneficiaries. You're the trustee of this trust too, giving you oversight of the entire structure. When you pass away, your family members can step into this role seamlessly.
4. The Distribution Committee
To maintain the trust's protection, distributions must be approved by an independent Discretionary Distribution Committee (DDC). Mark's law firm serves as the DDC. When you need funds, you submit a request through your client portal. It's electronic, seamless, and time-stamped.
Why this stops creditors: If a creditor tries to force a distribution, the DDC simply declines. The distribution is entirely discretionary — no reason required. The creditor has no legal mechanism to compel it.
Why Wyoming Beats Offshore Trusts
Offshore trusts (like those in the Cook Islands) might sound appealing, but they have a critical flaw: U.S. courts aren't required to respect foreign law.
Here's what happens with offshore trusts:
- The court says, "We may not have jurisdiction over the assets, but we have jurisdiction over you. Show up in seven days with the money."
- You show up and say, "The offshore trustee won't allow a distribution."
- The judge says, "I understand. Perhaps we can persuade you." Then they jail you for contempt.
- After a week, they bring you back. Still won't pay? Six more months in jail.
- They will repeat this process until you cave. Everyone caves.
Wyoming is different. Unlike offshore jurisdictions, Wyoming law is entitled to full faith and credit under the U.S. Constitution. Courts in New York, New Jersey, and other states have upheld Wyoming trust structures in divorce and family business disputes. Your assets stay in the U.S., under U.S. law, with real legal protection.
What a DAPT Could Have Saved One Family
A family came to Mark after accumulating $30 million in real estate over three generations. Their son got married, received a direct ownership interest in the family companies, and three years later his wife filed for divorce.
The result: His wife walked away with $3.75 million — half of his quarter share — for three years of marriage.
What a DAPT would have done: If the family had contributed those assets to a DAPT before the marriage, the divorcing spouse would have had no property interest to claim. Typical settlement in that scenario: 10 cents on the dollar. Instead of $3.75 million, she would have received $375,000 at most.
"The best prenuptial agreement you can ever possibly have is a domestic asset protection trust — because you don't have a property interest. If you don't have a property interest, there's nothing that forms part of the divorce estate." - Mark Pierce, Wyoming Trust Attorney
An Attorney Who's Been on Both Sides
Most asset protection attorneys draft trusts from one viewpoint: legal theory. Mark Pierce has real-world experience on the other side.
Over Mark's 42-year career, he has been a:
- Bankruptcy trustee — The one trying to break into trusts to recover assets for creditors
- Tax court litigator — Seeing how the IRS evaluates and challenges wealth structures
- Federal and state court litigator — Watching asset protection plans succeed and fail
- CPA — Understanding the tax implications most attorneys miss
- Business owner — Starting, running, succeeding, and failing at his own companies
That experience goes into every document he drafts. He's not guessing what might hold up in court. He knows.
"I understand the entrepreneur mentality. I've had some good successes. I've had some failures. That gives me a different perspective on putting these trusts together that I think most attorneys lack." - Mark Pierce, Wyoming Trust Attorney
One Month to Protection
Step 1: Consultation ($375)
30-minute call to understand your assets, beneficiaries, and risk profile. You'll leave knowing exactly what structure you need and why.
Step 2: Engagement & Questionnaire
You engage Mark, make a down payment, and fill out a detailed questionnaire about your assets and goals.
Step 3: Trust Drafting
Mark drafts your trust documents and sends them for your review.
Step 4: Execution & Funding
Sign the documents, transfer assets into the trust, and you're protected.
Step 5: Annual Audit
Each year, a quick review ensures your trust reflects any changes in your life, assets, or goals. Questions between audits are covered by your maintenance fee.
"Most of my clients, when they get done, think, 'My goodness, I should have done this a long time ago. I had not realized it was going to be this straightforward.'" - Mark Pierce, Wyoming Trust Attorney
Is a Wyoming DAPT Right for You?
This is for you if:
- Your net worth exceeds $1 million (outside of your home and pension)
- You're an entrepreneur in a high-risk business
- You're a professional with liability exposure (doctors, attorneys, executives)
- You want to protect assets from a future divorce — yours or your children's
- You're planning generational wealth transfer
This may not be for you if:
- Your net worth is under $1 million (simpler structures may suffice)
Why You Need to Act Before You Need It
Once litigation begins or a creditor makes a claim, transferring assets into a trust is considered fraudulent conveyance. Courts will void the transfer and you'll have no protection.
The time to set up a DAPT is when everything is fine. When you don't need it yet.
Wyoming's 6-month statute of limitations doesn't start until your trust is funded. Every day you wait is another day of exposure.
"No one foresaw that 2008 was going to be a financial collapse. No one foresaw that 2019 was going to give rise to COVID-19. No one foresaw that somebody would die when they were 32 and that their spouse would remarry and then come in and claim a part of a family business. No one sees those things coming, but they happen. Plan for them." - Mark Pierce, Wyoming Trust Attorney
What Does It Cost?
- Consultation: $375 (applied to your engagement if you proceed)
- Trust setup: $18,500
- Annual maintenance: $5,000
The math: A full asset protection structure costs a fraction of what you'd lose in one bad lawsuit or divorce. The family in the case study above lost $3.75 million. For less than 0.5% of that, they could have been protected.
"The decision calculus is simple: you're going to pay me a certain amount of money and it's going to save you a hundred times that amount." - Mark Pierce, Wyoming Trust Attorney
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still access my assets?
Yes. You request distributions through your client portal. The Discretionary Distribution Committee (Mark's law firm) approves routine requests electronically. It's seamless — but the approval step is what protects you from creditors. You still manage the assets contributed to the trust. For example, if a business is contributed, you will be the manager. You can manage assets within the trust without any trust involvement or approvals from the DDC. The only time you must receive DDC approval is to move an asset into or out of the trust.
Do I have to live in Wyoming?
No. Through proper structuring, you can benefit from Wyoming's laws while living anywhere in the U.S.
How is this different from an offshore trust?
Wyoming DAPTs provide stronger protection without the risk. U.S. courts can jail you for not producing assets from an offshore trust. They cannot force distributions from a properly structured Wyoming DAPT.
What about estate taxes?
Wyoming has no state income tax, no inheritance tax, and no capital gains tax on trust assets. Federal estate tax planning can be incorporated into your structure.
Can creditors ever reach these assets?
After the 6-month protection period, assets are protected from future creditors. The structure ensures that even if a creditor gets a judgment, they cannot compel a distribution. The DDC simply declines.
What if I'm already married?
Ideally, your spouse joins you in transferring assets to the trust. This protects both of you from outside creditors and establishes the transfer was mutual, not fraudulent.
What's the difference between consensual and non-consensual creditors?
Consensual creditors (like your mortgage lender) negotiated their security interest — they get paid, and the system respects that. Non-consensual creditors (lawsuit plaintiffs, divorce claims) didn't earn a secured interest. Wyoming law protects your assets from them.
Stop Waiting to Protect Yourself
You insure your house against fire even though you've never had a fire. This is the same principle — except the odds of a lawsuit, creditor claim, or divorce are far higher than a house fire.
42 years of experience. Wyoming's strongest statutes. A straightforward process. About a month from consultation to protection.
You'll understand what the benefits are very quickly, and we can begin moving forward to protecting your wealth and your family's inheritance.