International Trusts

The trust concept has evolved under English common law over a period exceeding six hundred years. As trusts are a creation of English common law, the most suitable location for an international trust is a jurisdiction which has English common law and equity as the foundation of its legal system. The use of international trusts for wealth preservation or asset protection planning has increased significantly over the past 15 years.

The Asiaciti Trust Group includes trust companies that are licensed or authorised to act as trustees of international or foreign trusts in Singapore, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Nevis, Samoa and Hong Kong. In other jurisdictions, Asiaciti Trust can provide trustee services subject to local legislation.

Benefits of international trusts

A properly structured international trust is the most flexible product available for international financial planning, particularly for the wealthy private client. International trusts are a proven vehicle for establishing the legitimate ownership of both onshore and offshore assets. For residents of some countries international trusts may provide a structure thought which estate duties and income taxes can be minimized. However they are more particularly useful in regulating the succession to family wealth, and to protect assets from a wide variety of contingent risks.

The flexibility of an international discretionary family trust enables income, and trust capital, to be distributed amongst family members without the need to transfer direct equity or ownership of assets to individual family members. Succession to family wealth is therefore regulated with the ability to adjust to a changing family environment. Further, the use of international trusts for wealth preservation or asset protection has increased significantly over the past 15 years.

Other benefits to be gained from an international trust include:

1. Enhanced privacy and confidentiality.
2. Minimisation of tax liabilities on income derived by the trust.
3. Reduction of liability to asset or wealth taxes, such as estate or gift taxes and capital gains taxes.
4. Flexibility for income or capital distributions amongst family members.
5. Flexibility in structuring marital asset allocations.
6. Enhanced environment for diversification of investment portfolios.

Asiaciti Trust's Heritage Service

In response to our clients' needs for wealth protection, in 1995 Asiaciti Trust created a specialist wealth protection and international estate planning service, Heritage. The objective of Heritage is to provide professional advisors with the facilities to create for their clients an ownership structure that protects family wealth and simultaneously achieves the client's estate planning requirements.

For more information on Heritage, please click here.