Posted by jonathan on April 2nd, 2009
Offshore Trust Benefits
Filed under: offshore
Quite simply, Offshore Trusts provide complete and absolute confidentiality. Assets and title to property, for example, are put into the trust for the trustee to manage. This affords total privacy as it is not possible to discover the owner of the assets and the subsequent benefit of this is that there is the additional benefit of absolute protection from liability. This is how offshore asset protection can be cast in stone. Whilst the legal title passes to the trustee, the intent of the trust is to provide for the beneficiaries, of which the settlor may be a named person. These beneficiaries, hold very strong rights with respect to the interests in the trust and most jurisdictions recognise that the intent is to provide the defined benefits for the these beneficiaries and, in court cases, rule favorably in their direction when questions as to the management of the trust arise.
Because these Offshore Trusts are almost always found in offshore tax havens or in low-regulation offshore jurisdictions with reputations for offshore asset protection and superb confidentiality, the Offshore Trust also benefits from these features. Assets managed by Overseas Trusts are, in the main, free from tax which is applicable in a settlor’s home country or jurisdiction, such as the UK. If the trust is formed to provide for the benefit of the children or heirs of the settlor, for instance, the Offshore Trust may provide a vehicle to protect against intense inheritance scrutiny and taxation. Moreover, Offshore Trusts offer unparalleled confidentiality when formed in low regulation offshore financial centres plus increased protection from the threats of civil litigation and liability, and even from divorce or business dissolutions. It is extremely difficult, except in situations of accusations of a severe criminal offense, for an outside entity to pierce the confidentiality shield surrounding an Offshore Trust in most offshore jurisdictions.
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