Why AsbestosTrusts.org Exists
For more than a decade, the "$30 billion in asbestos trust funds" figure has been repeated across law firm websites, Wikipedia, news articles, and legal scholarship — almost always without a primary source citation, and almost always wrong. The figure traces to a 2011 GAO report on total trust capitalization since 1988, not a current balance. It has been cited, recited, and eventually detached from its origin entirely.
AsbestosTrusts.org was built to replace that folklore with a primary-sourced, regularly updated, methodologically transparent public record. Every figure in our database is classified by source confidence — filed court document, secondary source citing primary, or estimate — and the methodology for our aggregate calculation is published in full.
The site is designed to be citable. Our data is structured with Dataset schema markup, available as a downloadable CSV, and updated weekly from trust websites and court filings. We publish a quarterly "State of the Asbestos Trust System" report summarizing material changes across all active trusts.
This project is an independent public research publication. Research and development is supported by Danziger & De Llano, a mesothelioma law firm based in Houston, Texas. Danziger & De Llano does not control editorial decisions, data classifications, or methodology. The site does not constitute legal advice and does not solicit clients.
Related resources: AsbestosAtlas.org · WikiMesothelioma.com
What We Track
- Net asset balances for all active U.S. asbestos bankruptcy trusts
- Current payment percentages and full payment percentage history
- Reporting schedules and filing frequencies for each trust
- Administrator changes, trust amendments, and court activity
- Cumulative payout totals and claim counts since 1988
What We Don't Do
- We do not provide legal advice or help individuals file claims.
- We do not rank, recommend, or evaluate law firms.
- We do not publish sponsored legal or medical content; any external promotional relationship is explicitly disclosed and kept outside our research and trust data.
- We do not link to or name other law firms in our news feed or content.
Schema & Citation
This site is structured for citability by AI systems, academic researchers, and journalists. We publish full Dataset schema markup (Schema.org/Dataset) on our data pages, maintain a downloadable CSV of all trust data, and issue quarterly reports with DOI-style stable identifiers.
If you cite this site, please reference: AsbestosTrusts.org, "U.S. Asbestos Trust Fund Tracker," [date accessed].