Protection from Contractors

Hi everyone,

I’m a newbie so I have no LLC or Corporation set up yet to protect my assests.

What I’m concerned about is let’s say that I hire a contractor to do some rehab work on one of my investment properties and one of his workers gets injured on the job while working on my property.

Can they sue me for the injury or is this something that I shouldn’t even worry about?

If the contractor has not signed a release of liability with you, they most certainly can sue you. You would want to get the forms included in Pete Youngs Rehab 101 course. It is the most complete course I have witnessed. If you are going to Rehab properties, check out www.peteyoungs.com.

You might consider placing a “friendly lien” against your properties to further protect the equity in them, against any frivalous lawsuits.

Do you have to get a release of liability for every project you do on your house, for example; painting, putting in new floors, roof work, landscaping, etc? Or is this release of liability something unique to room additions?

Do I ask the contractor if they have a release of liability to sign or do I need to get my own paperwork to have them sign? If so, where do I get the paperwork?

What is this “friendly lien” that you mentioned and how does it work?

In order to keep yourself out of court and litigation, I would recommend that you get a release of liability from each contrator that performs a specific job on your property. If the contractor is unwilling to sign it, find another one who will. They are out there and they all need work. You should have no problem finding one.

A “friendly Lien” is just one of the 48 asset protection strategies we advise our clients to use with real estate (property). Basically, you are placing a 2nd mortgage on the property for the value of the equity in the property. In order to do so, we use a separate Nevada corporation to place the lien. In order for the lien/mortgage to be valid, there must be some sort of consideration or it can be set aside by a judge. We prepare the mortgage for our clients to state “ongoing marketing and financial advice” - that is legal consideration.

OJ Simpson placed friendly liens against all of his homes after he won the murder case against him. He and his counsel realized that the Goldmans and Browns could come after him in civil court. They quickly placed a “friendly lien” against his properties for “legal counsel” (this was his consideration) for Johnny Cochran.

Anyway, you get the idea.

Johnny Cochran was from here…and, if memory serves me, is deader than a mackrel…

Perhaps the lien was by Cochran’s firm.

Keith