In today's lawsuit-happy climate, it makes sense to keep a low profile, financially speaking. According to Michael L. Potter, Esq., and financial and marketing consultant Stanley R. Joseph, one way to do that is through the use of a real estate privacy trust (also referred to as a "land trust"). This type of trust is a privacy-enhancing, title-holding vehicle that keeps your name off of the public listing of a property's ownership and thus gives you a "lower profile" as a potential lawsuit target.

In this type of trust, legal and equitable interests in real estate, such as apartment buildings or commercial properties, are held in the name of someone other than yourself (the "trustee"), while you ("the beneficiary") hold all the beneficial ownership. Tax benefits such as income and depreciation, for example, would pass through to you. Under the terms of the trust, the trustee can only perform certain acts, such as the signing of deeds, and can only act when given direction to do so by the beneficiary.

While this type of trust doesn't enjoy the same impenetrability in case of a lawsuit that something like an asset protection trust might offer, it does serve a purpose in enhancing your financial privacy.