Belize Trusts and Belize Bank Account

Belize Trusts - Belize trusts are world renowned for asset protection. The Belize trust is one of the strongest asset protection solutions available anywhere.

The assets of a Belize trust cannot be attached to satisfy the judgment of a foreign court (non Belize) based on any foreign laws or statues. If the transfer of the assets to the Belize Trust is done with the specific intention to defeat or to shelter from collection efforts arising from the claims of creditors, and whether the claim and/or the judgment arose before or after the trust was created, the assets in the Belize trust would still be safe and secure. This is also applicable to the order or judgment of a foreign court in respect to marriage or divorce and claims by creditors in an insolvency (bankruptcy proceeding).

The assets of the trust are not subject to the laws relating to fraudulent transfers, the Bankruptcy Act and the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgements Act which could ordinarily be used to reach such assets. Rare to find such protective legislation in any jurisdiction.

Fraudulent Conveyance - Belize Trusts are not subject to fraudulent conveyance laws. In many jurisdictions funds that are moved out of the reach of a creditor can be attacked for a period of two to five years. For instance in Panama the period is two years.

The Belize trust is exempt from any fraudulent conveyance actions by law. If one is in a law suit or if a judgment has been awarded and the debtor removes the money or assets from the reach of the creditor (out of the country of the lawsuit for instance) the creditor can come to the country where the money is (the offshore bank jurisdiction) and start a fraudulent conveyance action in the courts. This is impossible in Belize with a Belize Trust. You would also have similar protection in Guatemala which is another jurisdiction we operate in.

Lawsuit and Judgment Protection - If there is a lawsuit or a judgment issued by a foreign court (not a Belize Court) this judgment or court case cannot be used to attack your money held by the Belize Trust in a Belize Bank. The financial enemy would need to institute a new and separate court case in Belize. This sort of action would have no chance of succeeding since it would be lacking venue and authority and go against the Belize Trust Laws. Just because there is a trust and bank account in Belize it does not mean there are legal grounds to sue in a Belize court and in fact it is extremely difficult to get venue and authority if both parties are not located in Belize and the transaction was not conducted in Belize as well.

If you wish to see an extreme example of the protections afforded by the Belize Trust let us look at the case of the Securities Exchange Commission v. Banner Fund International. These folks were accused of all sorts of securities related fraud. We are not interested in the morality of their case. They were found guilty and lost and then lost again on appeal in the US Federal Courts. The link to the underlying USA District Court Case is here:

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC Litigation Release No. 15311

The defendants had a Belize Trust. The SEC applied for an order to compel the trustee for their Belize trust to disclose certain confidential trust information and turn over certain assets of the trust. The Supreme Court of Belize refused the order on the grounds that the application went against the relevant provisions of the Belize Asset Protection Trust Act. The Belize Supreme Court Judge, Mr. Justice Traodio J. Gonzales elaborated in an oratory as follows:

"the Asset Protection Trust Act goes to great lengths to reserve jurisdiction over Belize trust to the Belize Courts. Section 7(2) of the Act provides that only a Belize Court has the power to declare a Belize trust invalid. By section 7(6), Belizean Trusts are granted specific immunity against the judgments of foreign courts or claims based on the law of any foreign jurisdiction. In a jurisdiction, such as Belize, which offers international investors confidentiality and protection of their assets against foreign litigants and which has passed law towards those ends, it is important that judges, mindful of the legislature's intention as set out in the law, support these principles of confidentiality, inviolability and exclusivity of jurisdiction". Now that is asset protection.

Lawsuit and Judgment Protection Extra Layers - If you wish to further layer the asset protection of the Belize Trust and Belize Bank Account we can have a Nevis LLC listed as the beneficiary of the Belize Trust. Beneficiaries of a trust are of course not public or in any database or registry.

The trustee need know who the beneficiaries are but in many cases it is expedient to let the trustee know who the beneficiaries are. So we use a Nevis, LLC as the beneficiary. Of course the Nevis LLC can be broken down by shares to distribute assets proportionately according to the wishes of the person creating the trust. This lets him conceal the beneficiaries from the trustee in Belize since the trustee has no way of knowing who owns the Nevis, LLC. No one on the island of Nevis has the owners name of the Nevis LLC but your financial enemy does not know this, does he? So if he actually ever got through the Belize courts (very unlikely) and finds out that the beneficiary of the Belize Trust is a Nevis, LLC then he has to go to Nevis to find out who in the world owns the Nevis, LLC. This is mandatory for him to show the courts in Belize that he has some legal standing to go after the trust assets.

Just what legal standing he would have in mind is hard to imagine but we are being extremely paranoid here so let's go with it. What if he gets into the Nevis, LLC and finds out the trust assets through the Nevis, LLC really belong to say the dog shelter of Havana, Cuba? In other words the burden of proof is on him to show the court that this trust is really your assets and this assumes that he can show under Belize law that he has a right to go after your assets which is a very unlikely scenario. Again things ever getting this far are extremely rare but we are playing it out for those of you that need this extra layer of assurance. We believe it is important for our clients to sleep well at night and we take these concerns with the utmost degree of seriousness.

So now lets say your financial enemy goes to Nevis. Well he finds out that to bring an action in the Nevis courts he has to post a $25,000 cash bond. If he fails to prove his case this goes towards court costs and your costs involved in defending can be recovered as well from this $25,000. Figure after the Nevis lawyers discourage him they will hit him for $5,000 to $10,000 to review the case before filing. The opinion will be discouraging but if he wants to try they will want $25,000 to bring the action counting the initial payment. So it is a $50,000 hit to try to see if he can find out who owns the Nevis LLC that is the beneficiary of the Belize Trust after he spent a good $25,000 in Belize to get this far. That is an estimated $75,000. Many lawyers will charge more if they think the client has deep pockets.

Don't forget your financial enemy is also paying lawyers from the home country to go to Belize and Nevis to assist the local lawyers who do not know the merits of the case in the home country court where the case originated from. So his lawyers are drinking Margaritas on the beach while he foots the bill. Nice huh! There is also nothing preventing you from removing the funds from Belize during this fight as a protective measure and they know this or the local lawyers will soon inform them of this risk.

Now if you really wanted to be mean have the Nevis, LLC owned by another separate Nevis, LLC. This means your financial enemy would then if he won on the first case in Nevis (extremely unlikely) then he gets to pay the lawyer again and posts another $25,000 cash bond to go after the next Nevis, LLC records. Or what if the Nevis, LLC had as an owner another Belize Trust?

Now you are getting to understand why it is most unlikely to see foreign lawyers chase you into these well sheltered jurisdictions. It is expensive, time consuming and most often futile.

Foreign Criminal Prosecutions - If you are charged with a crime by the national courts of another country for a crime that is also a crime in Belize (forget tax only matters) the Belize government on request can obtain information for the requesting government. This is up to Belize. Generally this is reserved for serious crimes like narcotics, terrorism, trafficking in person, piracy, etc. requests from city county, and state courts are generally not honored. The request should tie the funds in the trust to the crime as well. This is to let you know there is provision for enforcement regarding criminal cases from foreign lands. Civil cases you have protection from, period.

Belize Trust Registry - Belize trusts must be registered. The Belize Register of Trusts is not publicly available online or in person. The trustee of a trust can provide written authorization to a specified person to query the Registry to ascertain that the trust is in fact registered.

The Trustee - This is the individual or entity who receives the property to be managed for the benefit of those individuals, companies, trusts, or other entities named as Beneficiaries. The Belize law firm acts as the Trustee. The trustee has a lawful obligation to confidentiality. The trustee has to respect confidentiality regarding any and all information regarding the trust assets, bank accounts, property and trust administration. The trustee is under no legal compulsion to conduct any sort of audit or financial inspection of any given trust for any reason. The trustee is legally considered to be non-resident to Belize.

Beneficiaries - These are the individuals, company or companies, trusts or other entities named to benefit from the trust assets. The names of the beneficiaries are contained in the registry. This is why it can be advantageous to use a Nevis, LLC as the trust beneficiary.

The Settlor - This is the person, corporation, trust or foundation placing the assets into the trust. This will generally be you.

The Protector - This is an optional position. The protectors job is to supervise the trustee and make sure they perform their role as per the wishes of the settlor. The protector has the power to remove and appoint a new trustee. The protector may also be the settlor, trustee or the beneficiary.

Belize Taxes - A Belize trust and the trust assets are exempt from income tax, business taxes, estate, taxes, capital gains tax from bank interest or stock trading gains, inheritance taxes, succession taxes as well as any gift taxes. No Belize taxes is the simple version.

Time Frame - To form a Belize Trust and Open a Belize Bank Account takes 2-3 weeks.

Documents Required -

* Two non-bank reference letters. These can be from an attorney, insurance agent, accountant, real estate agent, medical doctor, dentist etc. The idea is to use some sort of licensed professional.

The letter should state that they know you professionally and they think you are a good guy or gal. We do not use a template to prevent having all the reference letters look the same. You should use at least one lawyer or accountant if at all possible.

Letters should be on the professional letterhead. NO BANK REFERENCE LETTER NEEDED. Bank reference letters are a dangerous trail from your old bank to your new bank account and should be avoided. In some countries a bank reference letter request is considered to be a suspicious transaction and is referred to the government for possible investigation.

* A notarized copy of a driving license with a photo or a notarized copy of a passport (picture page only). You do not need a passport. A driver license or state issued photo ID card is fine. No international driver licenses accepted.

* Copy of a utility bill showing address. No notary needed.

* Minimum Bank Deposit - $1000

Cost - The Belize Trust and the bank account in Belize is $2995. If you add in the optional Nevis, LLC it is $4495.00

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