The Bahamas, known officially as the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic state within the Lucayan Archipelago. It consists of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and Hispaniola, northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the United States state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys.
An independent nation since 1973, The Bahamas has passed legislation to meet the requirements of an increasingly sophisticated financial services marketplace and its reputation as an experienced and knowledgeable player in this area is well known. In fact, many of the world’s largest and most prestigious financial institutions have branches or subsidiary operations in The Bahamas, There are no income, capital, gift or estate taxes in the jurisdiction.
The Commonwealth of The Bahamas may be one of the best jurisdictions in the world for an
International Asset Protection Trust. The Trust legislation is advanced (amended in 2011) and has many advanced asset protection features including the protection of the the Fraudulent Disposition Act, 1991 where a creditor must initiate (extremely costly) proceedings in the Supreme Courts of the Bahamas to prove that the Settlor willfully intended to defraud him, that the obligation owed was in existence at the time of the formation of the trust and that the Trust serves no other purpose than to defraud him. When a Trust is settled with multiple Beneficiaries including several international charities it is easy to understand that this is nearly an insurmountable task. The Fraudulent Disposition Act, 1991 establishes that any such action must be commenced
within two years of the date of the Asset transfer. Once the statute of limitations runs out, the creditor can no longer bring a claim of fraudulent conveyance. Other great features of the Bahamas jurisdiction include:
- No registration/recording of the Trust Document/Settlor/Beneficiaries/Trustees.
- Trusts have no statutory prescribed perpetuity period.
- Trusts can create an everlasting legacy for generations to come.
- No income, capital, gift or estate taxes in the jurisdiction.
- U.S. (or foreign) judgments against the Settlor are NOT enforceable against a Bahamian Trust.
- A Settlor of a Bahamian Trust may also be named as a Beneficiary.
- A Protector may be appointed and is given the power to remove and appoint trustees.
- Trustee may be granted broad discretionary power so the Settlor can swear (under oath) that he has "no control".
A trust is considered a Bahamian trust where the trust instrument confers jurisdiction on the court and no further nexus is required.Because there is no requirement in the Bahamas to register a trust, so the arrangement remains completely confidential between the Settlor and the Trustee. Unlike most other asset protection jurisdictions, there is also no requirement to use a Bahamas Trustee when establishing a Bahamas trust, thereby creating the opportunity to eliminate ANY record of the parties to the Trust in The Bahamas and to move this confidential (due diligence) data to the second (well established and private) jurisdiction of Hong Kong for the provision of Trustee services.
Additionally, the Settlor of a Bahamas Trust (unlike most U.S. Trusts) may also be named as a Beneficiary, so if you choose this option, even though the Trust is IRREVOCABLE, a distribution (return) of Trust Assets may be made to you as a beneficiary.
Ready to get started? Learn about our Bahamas International Asset Protection (Legacy) Trust
