FAQs

While the specific instructions in the Trust Deed may vary greatly from case to case, the necessary features are:

• Naming of the Trustee.
• Defining the terms and conditions under which the Trustee can resign or be removed.
• Defining the Trustee’s powers and restrictions.
• Describing the assets or initial Trust Property
• Naming the Beneficiaries and describing how each is to benefit.
• Naming of the Settlor, the person who contributes the initial assets to the Trust.
• This Settlor then literally “gives away” the assets transferring legal ownership of them to the Trustee.
• The Settlor names the Beneficiaries of the Trust.
• The Deed identifies the Property Settled upon the Trustee: the property then passes on to the Trustee.
• The Trust Property can be increased at any time providing the Trust Deed has been written to allow this.

The Trustee is the person, corporate body, or other entity into whose ownership the assets have been transferred.

A Protector can be an individual or an entity who is usually appointed to oversee the activities of the Trustee. The Protector can be given power within the terms of the Trust Deed to remove a Trustee, protect the interests of the beneficiaries, or appoint a new Trustee.

A Trust is a unique legal entity that allows the Trust Deed to be written to suit your personal requirements and intended purposes. The following are some of the main reasons for the use of International Trusts

• Asset Protection
  Asset Protection Trusts are created as a tax-neutral method of transferring the legal ownership of your major assets into the name of a Trustee prior to any litigation or other attack. With the use of a Multi-Jurisdictional “International” APT, you can have the protection of the most favorable APT law in the world. The presence of such a formidable APT should discourage nearly all potential threats, and those that want to challenge the trust in court would most likely have to post a lump sum of cash, mainly around the vicinity of US$25,000, to even commence proceedings in the country having jurisdiction over the trust.
• Family Protection
  The trust can be set up to protect the interests of a Family on a whole or the interests of specific persons within the family, for example, minor family members, persons who are not able to care for themselves or persons who would like the family assets all for themselves.
• Privacy, Anonymity and Flexibility
  Under most international trust law, the Trust Deed is a private document with the only information registered with the trust registry being the Trust name, Trustee and Protector. No information on its contents is available to any external authority. This confidentiality is available in Belize by provisions in the Belize Trusts Act. Flexibility within the Trust Deed, particularly of a Discretionary Trust, is provided by the following:

➢ through provisions that provide that the Trust can be revoked or terminated;
➢ that the Trustee can be removed;
➢ that the Law and Forum, that is, the location of the Trust, can be transferred to another jurisdiction should it be felt that worldwide political developments make this a prudent precaution;
➢ policies on administration and disposition of the assets can be modified.

To commence procedures to establish our own trust, please fill out and submit our Trust Application Form along with the required due diligence documents.

The Trust and the Foundation rely on the same donor and beneficiary features whereby the Founder endows assets to the foundation for asset protection and proper management to the benefit of the beneficiaries. The most significant difference is that while the trust is simply an agreement between the relevant parties, a foundation is a legal person which can own property, sue and be sued, operate a bank account and so on. While the trust is managed by the Trustee, the foundation has a central body, the Foundation Council, responsible for the due administration and management of the foundation and its assets.

Yes, there are annual maintenance fees which are due on the anniversary of the Foundation’s registration. These fees include: government fees; registered office fee; registered agent’s fee. There are other optional services which we provide. You can view our Foundation Fee Schedule for a list of additional services provided and their respective costs.

Yes, a Foundation is able to open and operate its own bank account. We can assist with this service as well.

Once you have submitted the completed application form along with the required due diligence documents and paid the fees, registration of the foundation will take about 3 days.