Insights | Kobre & Kim — Disputes and Investigations

Delaware’s Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs) remain powerful tools for shielding assets, offering unique defenses against creditor claims and legal challenges.
Delaware law protects settlors from fraudulent transfer claims, insulates trusts from “illusory trust” arguments, and enforces Delaware law even when challenged elsewhere.
For debtors, understanding and strategically leveraging these features can help preserve assets and strengthen protection against aggressive creditors.

Delaware’s Domestic Asset Protection Trusts (DAPTs) have earned the state a reputation as a premier jurisdiction for shielding assets from creditors.
These trusts attract individuals and entities around the world seeking strong legal protections.
While international creditors may view asset recovery efforts in Delaware as daunting, it is possible to overcome these protections with a strategic, multijurisdictional approach.

As creditors find ways to crack Delaware’s trusts, debtors should remain mindful of the debtor-friendly features of Delaware trust law.
Delaware allows individuals to shield assets through a domestic asset protection trust (DAPT), where the trust's settlor is also the trust’s beneficiary. Using DAPTs, a settlor can shield his or her assets from creditors while retaining the right to benefit from those assets.
Although DAPTs are inherently robust, settlors should take every precaution to maximize their protective measures.

Delaware’s strong asset protection laws have long made the U.S. state a destination of choice for individuals and entities worldwide looking to set up a trust.
International creditors looking to recover assets may feel that pursuing a debtor in Delaware is insurmountable.
However, it is indeed possible to crack Delaware’s notoriously tough trusts by adopting an aggressive multijurisdictional strategy.

Several features make Delaware’s trust law attractive for debtors to hold assets in the jurisdiction.
This also means creditors often struggle when attempting to access the trusts to recover assets.
By deploying aggressive, multijurisdictional strategies, creditors may be able to crack even Delaware’s notoriously tough trusts.

Debtor-friendly Delaware has strong asset protection laws that make it a destination of choice for global entities and individuals looking to hold their assets in a trust.
This creates a headache for international creditors – recovering assets in a Delaware trust can seem like an insurmountable challenge.
By adopting a creative, aggressive and multijurisdictional strategy, however, creditors can crack even Delaware’s notoriously tough trusts.

Cross-border disputes involving ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) can often turn personal.
Commercial counterparties may try to make the UHNWI individually liable, putting their personal assets at risk.
However, if there is a connection to Delaware, UHNWIs can leverage the favorable tools available in the jurisdiction to resolve disputes in their favor.

Debtor-friendly Delaware has strong asset protection laws that make it a destination of choice for global entities and individuals looking to hold their assets in a trust.
This creates a headache for international creditors – recovering assets in a Delaware trust can seem like an insurmountable challenge.
By adopting a creative, aggressive and multijurisdictional strategy, however, creditors can crack even Delaware’s notoriously tough trusts.

As the place of incorporation for many entities, Delaware has become a center for resolving high-stakes, cross-border insolvencies.
But many parties, especially from outside the U.S., default to using Chapter 11 bankruptcy, when it can be long, drawn-out, unpredictable and costly.
Our Insolvency and Delaware teams outline alternatives in the state that could be quicker and cheaper.

For parties embroiled in contentious joint-venture disputes, it is advantageous but challenging to find new ways to exert pressure on a counterparty.
If the counterparty is registered in Delaware, however, a pursuing a dissolution proceeding there can prove to be a decisive way to gain leverage.
As our Claim Monetization & Dilution team explains, this tactic saved a client in a recent case valuable time and money in reaching a favorable settlement.