It has been said that lawyers in the US graduate with a license to sue.

There are thousands of law suits registered every day in what is now the worlds most litigious society and the effects of this frantic and antisocial activity are all around us to see in increased costs.

Take for example the costs in such things as household insurance, liability insurance of many kinds especially medical liability for doctors.

The premiums in protection for such things as medical malpractice insurance have been skyrocketing in recent years and as a result, hospitals and medical professionals are living with increasing premiums.

According to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), over 225,000 people die in the US each year due to iatrogenic causes (illness caused by physicians, hospitals, drugs, and medical procedures)

This has become the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from heart disease and cancer.

This situation of course provides fertile grounds for the opportunistic lawyer and more and more health professionals are looking to sophisticated asset protection planning for relief. Many eyes are focussing on offshore asset protection as a financial defence tactic.

For generations moneyed people have been protecting assets in offshore asset protection structures to place them out of reach of those who would attempt to seize them.In order to seize those assets the litigant must obtain a court order in that jurisdiction which is very difficult, expensive and time consuming to do.

Assets onshore can be seized with little fanfare and in the case of tax disputes, no fanfare or notice at all.There are many cases in the past where the US Government has seized assets of a citizen over a tax dispute that has not even been to court leaving the taxpayer penniless and unable to properly defend himself.

Anyone with serious assets to protect should examine the considerable advantages and peace of mind that a good offshore asset protection strategy can provide.

This option becomes unavailable once you are the subject of litigation so advance planning is crucial.