Parents Beware!

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Transcription:

Welcome to another Property Profits. Now, I’d like to talk to you about an asset protection issue that’s becoming a little bit of a pandemic at the moment. And that’s pretty scary. As you now, asset protection is one of the things that I am very, very strong on. I’ve been recognized as being one of the leading experts in asset protection for a very, very long time. And when I first started speaking about asset protection, it was a foreign word. Nobody even knew what I was talking about. But, unfortunately, now, its become a little bit more common place because its something that the media has taken hold of the they are starting to report a lot more cases, and a lot more litigation and even the ones that have been settled out of court, of course the details are not always known, but you know, they are picking upon these things, and it’s becoming more and more widespread from a public knowledge perspective. But we are really following in the footsteps of America when it comes to asset protection and how ridiculous America has got with their litigation and it’s a pretty sad indictment to Australia that we are following in their footsteps, but I’m afraid that’s how it is.

Anyway, what I want to talk to you about at the moment is something that is becoming more and more prevalent, and it’s to do with children, in particular, parents who have other children on their premises. I’ll give you a little story to start with. There was a case that’s just been settled in the papers in the last few months, I’m sorry, in the courts; it was reported in the papers. But its just been settled in the courts in the last few months that was a child that was over on a sleepover at one of his mate’s places, and then the child was on bunk beds, they were about eight years old at the time, I believe, and this was… the actual incident happened a couple of years ago, two, three, or four years ago, might have even been now, and the children are obviously older now. But, when the child came over for a sleepover, he was only about 8 or 10, or something like that. And the child who was over for the sleepover actually fell off the bunk bed at the top and hurt himself. And anyway, that resulted in a lawsuit against the family who had the child over on a sleepover. And this court case went on for a number of years and it’s finally being decided that the family who owned the bunk beds and who had the child sleepover, was actually found guilty and the parents of the child who was on the sleepover, he was awarded $850,000 damages. Can you get that? For a kid coming to sleepover at your place, falling off a bunk bed, the parents suing and getting $850,000 compensation. Can you believe that?

It’s really very, very scary for any of us who have got kids, and when you’ve got kids, you know quite often you’ve got kids over on sleepovers and all the rest of it. And yet, that’s a pretty scary number to have found… to be found guilty and have that kind of damages awarded against you. In this particular case, the insurance, the people who were litigated against, they did have insurance. And their public liability and home and contents insurance actually covered this particular claim. So, they were fortunate in that regard, but you know, it also begs the question, when you’ve got tough economic times, one of the things that quite often slips and doesn’t get pain on time, or perhaps doesn’t get paid at all is your insurances. And this is something that you cannot let slip. You know, even for one day, and that’s the day that the kid has the accident, you may not be covered.

So, please make sure that your double check that you are covered for that type of incident and that your public liability is well and truly up-to-date an currently.

Now, the other situation that is even worse is when the children are a little older and they start having parties. And in particular when the have these parties where a lot of people turn up to and they’re not even invited. You know how the internet is these days and the viral invitation process. And what actually happens is, these kids they just get dropped off by their parents at a party, and they’re not invited, so they end up having a party in the front yard. And you know, these days, you have to provide security to keep out a lot of the freeloaders that just say, ‘Oh, there’s a party on, let’s go.’ And everybody piles in, and you can end up with like hundreds of kids. It’s really very, very scary. And when you got through that and you start to think about what that actually means. It means that if you’re not seen to be providing sufficient curity for those invited to the party, and an incident happens, that you can be very much held, very much liable for any accident, or damages that result from children under your care. And there’s a lot of parents, well, I can’t say there’s a lot of parents, but some parents also are a little bit lax when it comes to alcohol. And you know, if you are seen to be allowing a provision of alcohol or for kids to actually have alcohol on your premises, if they are underage, you can again, be held very, very liable. And we’re not talking small fees. You know, there’s been a number of cases of very, very large figures that have been bandied around in the millions where children have been hurt, or minor have been hurt. They’re hardly children at that age. But minors have been injured on your premises and, you know, a lawsuit comes very, very quickly thereafter. And it really is becoming something that is more and more common.

I was listening to a solicitor who specialized in this particular area, and I mean, if a solicitor can specialize in this area, you know how many cases there are actually being raised all the time and how many actually get to court, and how many, you as the listening or the concerned public actually hear about, but you know, this particular solicitor was saying that he has many, many cases coming to him every year of incidents where there’s been parties and there may or may not have been alcohol involved, or they may or may not have paid for security to be on their premises to keep out unwanted guests. And unless they seem to be taking all of these precautions, they’re held guilty. They’re held liable.

And I think its something we really do need a wake up call about, and its something that, there’s a lot of parents around who absolutely no idea about asset protection. You know how you hold your properties and whether your own them in your own name, or whether you own them in Trusts, or how do you actually own you properties. And it’s a very scary indictment to the way our society is going, but the fact is, that’s how it is, so we really need to be forearmed and forewarned and be prepared. And insurance is one thing that you can do, but if you’re seen to be negligent, and particularly criminally negligent, then of course, your insurance doesn’t cover you. And its something you really do need to take onboard and be very proactive about, which is why I spend a lot of time teaching asset protection. And you know, in my home study courses and in my books and in my audios, and you know, I go through just how important asset protection is and what you can do to safeguard yourself.

So, please take that onboard. This is just a little bit of a wake up call, I suppose for any of you parents out there as to what it really can mean to you.

So, anyway, that’s it for me for this week. I hope that helps, and I’ll be back again to talk to you very, very soon. Bye for now.