If you are a real estate owner or landlord you would be only too aware of the deeply litigious environment around you. Any tenant with the slightest intention of suing you would knock the door of the relatively inexpensive 'contingency-fee' lawyer. Contingency-fee lawyers, as the name suggests, do not charge an hourly fee. They, instead, procure a percentage of the loot collected by the 'injured party'. And did you know that if you have investments in real estate you are live bait for these sharks?

So, you might ask, how in this day and age, where all your details are accessible with a single tap on a computer button; reflect how easy it is for unscrupulous elements to get hold of facts, in which case you need to ascertain if your assets are easily locatable. In other words, if you have property listed under your name you could be in serious trouble. It is all too easy for your tenant with a money-spinning lawsuit on his mind to walk down to the recorder's office or county house to divine who owns what property as well as the mortgage dates, the amount paid, the principal on it. In the present 'bytes age', he may not have to do even that- a click of the mouse will do it for him. With the details of your real estate holdings at his command what's stopping him from divining the amount of equity you currently own? And that's not all. Faced with a lawsuit you will find it difficult to re-finance or even sell your property in the county.

Now for the good news, there is a way of stopping the lawsuit-intentioned tenant in his tracks. It goes by the name of 'land trust'. This is a revocable agreement or contract by means of which a third party or trustee consents to hold the title to your property. The trustee is prohibited by law from divulging your - that is the beneficiary's - name to an outside source. Now even if the tenant were to walk down to a lawyer's office, he is less assured of success. Lawyers, typically, concentrate on cases they have hopes of winning. If they can't locate your assets they might not want to pursue a case at all.

There are other ways of protecting yourself from claim-happy tenants. You could go through a limited liability company or a corporation. On the other hand, a corporation, whose records are public, cannot put out of sight property ownership as effectively as a land trust can. A well-managed land trust not only protects you and your assets, it also ensures that a lien does not get attached to your property in the event of a lawsuit. On having transferred the realty into a land trust you obtain release from the responsibility of managing it. You also no not need a new income identification number for it and nor do you have to file separate income tax returns on it.

By having a trustee hold the title to the real estate holdings, negotiations usually go smoother. Rental property too, is rendered to be more manageable for that reason.

So, remove your name from your properties.

The above information is an overview and through experiences and is not meant to be construed as legal advice. You should obtain the advice of a real estate lawyer.