As more and more laws are passed dealing with the protection of assets, this area of the law has become an integral facet of asset management.

When the Tennessee Investment Services of Act of 2007 went into effect, for the first time Tennessee will allow individuals to create trusts for their own benefit (commonly referred to as self-settled trusts) and have those assets protected from their creditors.

Historically, if an individual created a trust for his own benefit, the assets of the trust were subject to the claims of his creditors. Under the new law, if the transferor and the trust meet certain requirements as prescribed by the Act, the assets transferred to a self-settled trust are not subject to the transferor’s creditors, even though the trust is for the transferor’s benefit. This change in the law provides an asset protection opportunity for individuals who are concerned about losing their assets to unforeseen creditors.