Protection for LLC's/LP's - opinions? Strategies?

[Judge Roy Bean]

Given that a safe deposit box can essentially be opened by fiat, does anyone have an opinion on where an LL entity should store records and negotiable instruments (including commercial real estate documents)?

The partners are in disagreement over where to keep such things. One insists banks will routinely provide verification of whether or not an entity is renting a safe deposit box. Another says his wife cleaned their's out the day before he was served divorce papers. Another knows the bank manager and trusts him implicitly. None of them have any "asset protection" experience.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[webhick]

I would suggest a bank deposit box in a bank where none of the partners "know" the bank manager. This can cause problems later on when the manager aligns with one partner and not the other and bends certain rules with regards to the safety deposit box.

There was a small bank up here where one of our ex-clients "knew" the bank manager. The manager was letting the guy get away with murder on his checking account (letting 50+ checks drawn off non-existent funds clear, waiving thousands of dollars in fees, "floating" loan payments, etc). The manager eventually got fired, but that's not the point. The manager did things he shouldn't have because he "knew" the owner.

[Judge Roy Bean]

...Stepping onto my soap box - Ergo, the guy whining about his wife getting into the box is an idiot and a bloviating gas-bag looking for undeserved sympathy. If he or his attorney had brain one, the guy would have gone in a few weeks prior to divorce papers being served, closed out the joint box and opened one in just his name. No problem. I dislike people who whine and complain about "how they got screwed" when the truth is they were idiots. I will step off my soapbox now.

He had no indication she was preparing to file for divorce until he was greeted by a process server waiting for him at his house late one evening. He got dropped off by the Super Shuttle after a three-day business trip. She and the kids and everything except most of his personal belongings were no longer in the house.

...The reasons a safe deposit box can be forced open are rather short. Non-payment of rent and a court/governmental order and if a bank gets the second one, there is some serious stuff going down.

I'm intimately familiar with the court being able to issue such an order, but am trying to discern under what other circumstances "the government" as you put it can mandate that a bank either respond as to whether the party has one or obtain access to it without the party's knowledge.