What Can We Learn From Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan? Insights on Asset Protection Strategies

The former love birds, Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan, filed for divorce in 2018 are still at it in Court. The two are fighting over their settlement that includes profits from Tatum’s Magic Mike (mmmmmm, sorry, I forgot what I was saying there for a minute) franchise money. Dewan is alleging that Tatum “created a complex web of LLCs, holding companies, and partnerships” as a way to conceal the Magic Mike loot (mmmmmm, is this going to happen every time I think of the words?)

So, what can we learn from this years-long divorce drama?

We can talk all about LLCs and trusts and how the two work together.

Understanding LLCs and Trusts:

• As we all know, a single member LLC offers no liability protection from the single member. A trust can act as the second member to an LLC. The trust can also attempt to avoid probate on that LLC interest if the operating agreement is worded properly. That’s easy and quite understandable.

• Another way LLCs and trusts play well together is to have an LLC act as a trustee of a trust to provide anonymity. In Florida, when you buy real property, the deed will show the name of the trustee. An LLC can act as the trustee and provide another layer of protection from all the people that want to know whatchugot.

• We sometimes list a trust as the beneficiary of a trust. This would provide a mechanism of liability protection to the beneficiaries. This is especially useful in a land trust where we can embed liability protection to the beneficiaries.

So, there you have it folks! We learn that I clearly have a thing for Magic Mike (mmmmmm) and that trusts and LLC can often work together to accomplish individual goals of asset protection, anonymity, or probate avoidance.