G Consulta

Everyone may seek the mantle of the law for asset protection. The law provides everyone with a shield and a sword. How you use these legal instruments of war will determine whether or not you will survive in the courtroom battle that lies ahead. The unsecured creditor who seeks to collect his claim from the debtor’s property must first establish his right to do so by reducing that claim to judgment or decree. Self- help for such claimants is not allowed. But litigation is time-consuming, other creditors with earlier judgments may intervene, and the debtor may dissipate his estate before judgment is obtained. Legal and equitable remedies may enable the creditor to reach the debtor’s property before or during litigation and to hold it for application against any money judgment he may ultimately recover (Countryman, supra). The ransom available by invoking process has become so common as to be generally accepted. Tycoons play a similar game, frequently using legal processes as a device to stall an adversary; it is not fraud, of course, just misuse of law to serve an ulterior purpose. The irony cannot be allowed to pass: Process was intended to make sure everything was done responsibly. It has instead become a devise for manipulation, even extortion.