Belize Trust

Belize Trusts Features

The Belize Trust Act, (revised 2000) is the trust law governing international trusts in Belize. Under the Belize trust law, the trust:

• May be used for any legal purposes outside of Belize
• May hold assets in its name, including IBC shares.
• Has no auditing, accounting or financial requirements
• Can be formed easily and is affordably priced
• Has asset protection provisions; a Belize trust may not be set aside on the basis of claims from creditors or the order of a foreign court on account of divorce, bankruptcy, etc.
• Permits the settlor to create protective trusts in their own favour (by acting as trustee, or being the beneficiary)
• Can be a charitable or a non-charitable trust
• Can be a revocable or an irrevocable trust

Belize Trust Benefits

Belize offshore trusts all benefit from:

• Total tax exemptions
• Stamp duty exemptions
• Low annual maintenance fees
• Strong legislation protecting trust interests, (protection from foreign judgment or orders of the court. Such orders are deemed non-enforceable under Belize law)
• Fast trust creation (simple and straightforward)

Belize Trust Requirements:

• Belize trust can be created by a minimum of one person or corporate body;
• The trusts must have a minimum of one beneficiary who is identified by name, or reference to a class, or reference to a relationship;
• Belize Trust should have a minimum of one trustee; the trustee may be a beneficiary, the settlor, the protector and may be an individual or corporate trustee.
• The settlor and the beneficiaries are at all times non- resident; trust property can not include local property
• A trust protector can be appointed if needed; the protector can be the settlor, trustee or beneficiary ;
• All Belize trusts must have a local registered agent and registered address

Belize Trust Formation Process

The application document for the Exempt Trust is a prescribed formation application. This application should contain:

• The prescribed fees;
• A certificate of Trust declaration;
• The name of the trust;
• The purpose of the trust;
• Duration of trust;
• Date of creation;
• Laws of settlement;
• Settlor name, address;
• Beneficiaries names and addresses;
• The name and address of the registered office.

After successful Belize trust formation, a Certificate of Registration for the Trust is prepared by the registry. The existence of the trust is registered and legitimatized in the process but the instructions and the content of the trust, in the form of a trust deed are known only to settlor and who the settlor deems necessary. The Belize trust formation can be done within one week.
The Trust Deed (the official document of the Trust) should be prepared by an attorney on the client’s request. Our offshore trust formation services include standard Trust Deed preparation. If non-standard Trust Deed is required, it can be prepared by CCP lawyers in accordance with the client’s instructions at an extra cost, which depends on the amount of details of the Trust Deed.

Basics of An Offshore Trust

The trust is a legal relationship between two main parties; the Settlor, who is the person setting up the trust, and the Trustee, who is the person in charge of the trust (for the benefit of the beneficiaries). All assets placed into a trust become the property of the Trust. The offshore trust is simply a trust formed under offshore (and tax free) legislation.

Belize Trust Uses and Purposes

Belize trusts provide sound asset protection as the property placed into a trust is legally separate from the settlor (the creator) and no longer makes up part of the settlor’s estate; assets in the trust cannot be included in any matters concerning the settlor’s estate such as divorce settlements, lawsuit settlements, or other claims.

Trusts are widely used in common law territories for estate, succession and tax planning, for protection against spendthrift habits and for privacy (the content of a trust are not public). Whenever a trust is used in place of a will, the wishes of the settlor can be carried out privately and without the high cost and time that come with the probate of wills. Unlike a will, the details of trusts are NOT public information.

Belize offshore trust can be set up as either revocable or irrevocable trust. The irrevocable offshore trust is more suitable for asset protection since this type of trust cannot be revoked (annulled, reversed, repealed, overturned) or changed at any time. In contrast to the irrevocable trust, the revocable can be changed, reversed or annulled at any time, and does not offer the dependable asset protection; the assets put into a revocable trust still technically belong to the settlor (as the settlor can change the details of the trust or cancel the trust at any time) and are subject to rulings and taxation. The revocable trust is better designed for estate planning, as in this case the settlor can change or amend or cancel the trust at will.

Standard Belize Trust Package from US $1240 Belize Trust Package with Trustee Service from US $1440