OFFSHORE ASSET PROTECTION
Offshore Asset Protection Strategy
The core elements of asset protection as a strategy and decision should always include protection from liability in a timely manner to avoid a last minute scramble to desperately "hide" assets, and maintaining confidentiality, not secrecy to the point where assets become untraceable even by the rightful owner himself. In fact, planning ahead eliminates the worry of how assets will be allocated and used in the event of sudden death, avoids entanglement in illegitimate asset protection schemes and ensures that the end result is a personalized asset protection plan capable of delivering the right results. Proper offshore asset protection includes careful estate, tax and retirement planning and management along with spendthrift and personal protection.
Offshore Asset Protection Vehicles: Trusts and Foundations
Offshore trusts and offshore foundations are entities that can hold, distribute and protect assets, but neither of these entities should be established for daily commercial business-related or profit making activity. Income can be earned through passive measures, such as rent income, capital gains, interest or dividends, or contributions.
If you must have an asset protecting vehicle in the form of a trust or a foundation and need to conduct business activity at the same time, the perfect solution is to form a company (offshore LLC or offshore IBC), and transfer the shares of that company into the foundation or the trust. With this combination you can confidently carry on business activity (through the company) and have the best offshore asset protection or estate planning (through the foundation or the trust).
The profits and earnings for the offshore LLC or IBC are 100% tax free and are protected under the trust or foundation; they cannot be touched by unwarranted claims against you.
What is an Offshore Trust?
A trust is an entity in which a person (settlor) places his or her assets in control of a third party (trustee) who then becomes the manager of these assets for the benefit of another (beneficiaries). A typical trust is set up so that the settlor can remove the legal ownership of assets from himself and place it into the trust, therefore rendering the assets untouchable. Trusts are commonly used for estate planning where the trust replaces a will. In such cases a revocable trust (one that can be changed or amended) is the better option, but when it comes to asset protection, the irrevocable trust is the most efficient, in that the conditions of the Trust are unchangeable.
Under interpretation of law, in the revocable trust, the settlor has not given up all claims or rights to those assets and assets are subject to liability claims. Belize and Nevis trusts are suitable for both estate planning and asset protection as they can be either revocable or irrevocable. These trusts are also simple to form, easy to maintain and confidentiality of beneficiaries is backed by law.
What is an Offshore Foundation?
The foundation is a legal entity in which a person (the founder) transfers his personal assets and places them under the legal ownership of the foundation. These assets take on a separate legal identity. The foundation consists of the founder, the person who gifts his assets to the foundation, a managing body (responsible for the managing the assets) and a beneficiary (the ultimate recipient of the gifted assets). In this legal structure, similar to trusts, the assets cannot be touched as in settlement or lawsuits against the founder.
Offshore Asset Protection Packages
We offer two main types of offshore asset protection packages;
- Trust/company with your appointed trustee* or foundation/company with your appointed members or
- Trust/company using agent trustee services or foundation/company with agent appointed members.
Take a look at the Nevis Multiform Foundation, a unique foundation that can be formed as a company foundation, a trust foundation or an ordinary private interest foundation. There are specific forms that enable you to conduct commerce and trade activity, and at the same time provide asset protection. You may (at any time, for any reason) change the form of the foundation as it suits your needs.
We offer offshore companies from the best jurisdictions such as Dominica, Anguilla, Nevis, Belize and Panama. We recommend the use of a Dominica IBC or Nevis LLC in the asset protection package.
Customize Your Offshore Asset Protection Package
Trust and Foundation Offshore Asset Protection Advantages
Under normal circumstances, your assets are under risk from settlement of lawsuits, or forced heirship and probate in the case of death. By placing these assets in a trust or a foundation, legal ownership has been transferred from yourself to the trust or the foundation and becomes untouchable, yet will be disposed of in a manner which you have prescribed. Here are just some of the features and benefits of trusts and foundations.
- An asset that can be placed into a trust or a foundation is any item of owned that can be converted into cash or has exchange value. Assets can be real (real estate, cash, jewellery, bonds, and stocks) or non physical (copyrights, patents).
- Trusts and foundations can be used by individuals, companies, families, and other entities regardless of income bracket to protect against political, social and economic risks or liabilities.
- Trusts and foundations are affordable and easy to set up. Such is the case in Anguilla, Belize and Nevis which are three competitively priced jurisdictions with laws that meet modern day needs.
- Trusts and foundations can be established with assets of nominal value (in Anguilla a foundation can be set up with a value of just US$10,000).
- A trust combined with an LLC or a foundation with and IBC can freely engage in short term commercial and investment activity. On its own, the trust is restricted from commercial activity. The combination of the offshore LLC and the trust or the IBC and the foundation, where you transfer your ownership of your interest (shares) in the company into the foundation or the trust allows such activity while your assets, gains and revenue are under protection.
- The Nevis Multiform Foundation is a unique and modern type of foundation that allows the entity to take on one of many functional forms whenever needed. There is a Trust Foundation, The Company Foundation, The Partnership Foundation and the Ordinary Foundation. This has its advantages. Example: if at the time of creation you need a working foundation, you would use a Company Foundation and after achieving your commercial goals (under protection of the foundation), you can easily convert to a Trust Foundation for long-term asset protection and estate planning with privacy.
- Confidentiality is provided under law - the particulars of the trusts and foundations are private and confidential in that the details of your wishes or intentions are never public unlike that of a will.
- The rule of forced heirship does not apply to our Anguilla, Nevis, Belize and Panama Foundation or the Nevis or Belize Trust. Forced heirship is a rule (in some countries) where the state decides the separation, disbursements of your estate upon your death. Assets in a trust or foundation are protected from such rulings, as they do not belong to you and cannot be included as personal assets.
- In other jurisdictions, the commonly used will is subject to probate and challenge and may take years before a settlement is reached. Under a trust or a foundation, settlement is immediate and not subject to challenge.
It is to your advantage that you as the settlor or the founder do not use the option of being a trustee or a protector, as the law interprets this as if you maintain control of assets and are still subject to all liability, plus the asset protection of the trust is diminished. We recommend that you separate the personalities of the founder/protector and the settlor/trustee at all times.
Offshore Trust and Offshore Foundation Anguilla, Nevis, Belize and Panama
We live in a more and more litigious society, where our assets can be constantly under threat from persons (rightfully or wrongfully) attempting to make claims on our assets/property. These threats can come from many sources in the form of financial (divorce or estate) settlements, creditor claims, frivolous law suits, or as a result of malpractice, by individuals or companies seeking to get rich off hard earned wealth.
The means to protect one's assets from attack through legal strategies have become almost necessary and therefore, legislation is enacted specifically to meet these needs if persons are to act on the likelihood of a threat. Anguilla, Belize and Nevis have responded to those growing demands by providing legislation for multiple purpose foundations and international trusts.
These structures all have their legal foundation in legislation:
Anguilla Foundation Act, 2008
Belize International Foundations Act, 2010
Belize Trust Act, 2002
Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, 1994
Nevis Multiform Foundations Ordinance, 2004
Panama Private Interest Foundation Law No. 25 passed in June 1995.
*Nevis trusts require that a Nevis IBC or a Nevis Trust company act as trustee. You may either set up your own Nevis IBC or appoint us as agent to act as Trustee.