Critique my asset protection for my rentals

[Jack B.]

Looking for people in the know (lot's of bad info on forums and blogs). 

The threat:

-Lawsuits

-Natural disasters, etc.

The portfolio and what I'm doing now:

-I have a few single family homes as rentals. 

-The rentals are located in Washington state, which is very tenant friendly.

-Most are mortgaged, one is paid off, though I'm considering paying off another with the proceeds of the sale of my one and only rental that is in an HOA (when I sell in a couple years to escape their non-sense).

-I can only put the paid off property in an LLC, but even if doing so it provides limited protection since it would be in my name and even without that charging orders can eliminate the security LLC's used to provide.

-I do have an Umbrella policy for 1 million, and all the properties and my own primary residence and car have 500K liability each as well mandatory as part of my Umbrella policy. Having been in a car accident that wasn't my fault and the other party trying to extort my insurance company anyways, with my insurance company declining to pay them anything, which then resulted them in suing me instead (though they insurance company had to pay for my representation, though they didn't tell me that, my Personal Injury Attorney Uncle did), I know first hand insurance is not 100% fool proof (though I won the case and they got nothing...This time).

-Very limited homestead protection in Washington and for a very limited amount.

-I have some money in 401K's, IRA's, etc. which are quite protected.

-I have earthquake insurance on all the properties (except my new primary residence though I'm considering getting that as well even though my rate spikes by 50% and it has a 25% deductible.

Things I've considered:

-An out of state trust such as Alaska, but they cost about 25K just to set up.

-Moving some money out of the country, but much more difficult now with asset reporting laws and the IRS strong arm tactics.

-Selling the rentals. Once you have money, it seems that making a ton more money with that money as fast as possible is not as important as protecting the money you have accumulated. Investing in an index fund or REIT may not pay off as much until much time has passed but its considerably less likely to get you involved in litigation.

-Getting mortgages for the properties so they are mortgaged to the hilt/cash out refinancing the existing mortgaged ones. 

[Julian Buick]

@Jack B. I recently worked with Anderson Advisors in Tacoma. They are setting up a living trust to move my primary residence to and a land trust to move my rental to. It cost me $2200 to set up the trusts and quitclaim the properties into the trusts. According to them this is the best option for asset protection. They are the experts, you should look into it.