Asset Protecton Trusts

As this news item from New Hampshire indicates, the protection may depend on the timing:

The judge who weathered accusations of sleeping in court is now accused of fraudulently shielding her husband's assets from creditors.

Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey has allegedly compromised the integrity of the judiciary by creating a trust to put the assets of her husband -- John Coffey -- out of reach of creditors.

One of the creditors is the Professional Conduct Committee, which has been seeking legal fees relating to John Coffey's 2005 disbarment for exploiting a client suffering from dementia. Coffey was accused of acquiring the woman's beachside Rye cottage in 1998 as payment for $50,000 in legal bills.

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Coffey allegedly helped establish the trust while her husband's disbarment proceedings were pending, and she had reason to know he might be facing large legal bills.

In a sworn statement to the committee, Patricia Coffey denied the trust was established to avoid collection of debt for the committee, but did acknowledge the timing appears compromising.