Unprotected
wealth is vulnerable.
We make it bulletproof.

Any word put before trust is semantics, branding, jargon, or clarification - but it is NOT a legal term. A trust, is a trust, is a trust. Living trust, family trust, asset protection trust, estate planning trust, deferred sales trust, and so on. All of these are trusts. They all follow trust law. They all have a trust deed. They all have a trustee, a settlor, and a beneficiary(ies).

Asset protection is the most specialized field of law. It is the most complex, particularly foreign asset protection because it involves two sets of national laws at a minimum. Few lawyers are familiar with the field. But proper asset protection according to the Dominion Standard is more than an examination of the law - it is financial advising, tax advising, strategy, and a tremendous amount of creativity with respect to application of law (et.al) to the goals of an ultra-high-net-worth-individual (UHNWI).

Therefore, when anyone says the words “asset protection” before “trust” (or maybe just asset protection in general), they describe the usage of a trust for the purpose of achieving asset protection. Alternatively, they are simply trying to describe the overall strategies employed, trusts and otherwise, to achieve asset protection as an outcome. That's a bit of a mouthful. But this is the nature of this field - it's complex!

Our role with Dominion is to teach all we can on the subject and to ultimately get the job done for you in the correct way. The field, in our view, is littered with cheap alternatives aiming at MNWIs (median net worth individuals) - who outnumber U/HNWIs 100-1. Therefore, all the commentary on the subject is written for MNWIs, and not for you. It's a lot of noise to cut through. A lot of amateur strategies are designed for the ordinary and workable “most of the time” cases.

Most of the time isn't good enough for us.

This is semantics. In common language, it's your trust. You have a trust, and can say you have a trust, if one exists where you are listed as a beneficiary. You “have” the trust if you benefit from it or are the original settlor.

In legal language, you don't own it. This reason, and this reason almost alone, is how asset protection works. If you own it, you don't have asset protection. Even if you own it through a string of 50 shell companies. asset protection works because of this standard.

It is the Dominion Standard and it's based upon decades of modern trust law, 800 years of common law, and 2,300 years of trust laws that stretch back to Scipio and Caesar.

A self settled trust is one where the settlor is also listed as a beneficiary (i.e., the settlor is also receiving benefit from the trust). These are the hallmark of asset protection work, as they are the most difficult to draft securely. But they can be highly effective when they are set up properly. The Dominion Standard is a solution to this complexity.

Every client’s case will vary based upon liquid assets, predicted revenues, other investments, and so on. The amount of risk exposure to the client is relevant as well. However, our general rule is to move (and thus, safeguard) roughly 50% of your wealth, particularly cash, in a foreign asset protection trust FAPT.

This will drift to a higher or lower percentage based upon your specific situation and goals. Two examples of each are as follows:

Higher Percentage: You're selling a business and then checking out. If you're about to make a sale of an asset and are looking at 50M, 100M, 500M etc. We would advise that almost every dime be put into the trust. This is also because there are many things we can do with that to minimize tax legality and provide you massive revenues for the rest of your life into perpetuity, and for your heirs. The strategies we employ here are incredible and life affirming.

Lower Percentage: You have many purchases and investments to make in the next 1-3 years. If cash flow is an immediate concern, we would advise a lower percentage of protected wealth during that period of time. These things are often business investments and future growth plans.

Our attitude is that asset protection isn't God - maximizing your wealth is. Asset protection is a tool to be used in the right way, as are many other tools. Like Miyamoto Musashi, we do not engage in favoritism.

We look at the case law in your home country, the trust and trustee law in the jurisdiction in question, the stability of those sets of laws, and then the overall economic and political environment in the jurisdiction in question. 

"Best asset protection country" isn't a coherent legal concept. It only makes sense as a Google search. Serious analysis means you're looking at all these factors.

If the laws in your country don't respect, or don't have stable precedent, for the trust laws in another, then we do not recommend that jurisdiction for you. Similarly, we have a philosophy that hard economics beats brand recognition every time. We've yet to see a case where the "brand" or the "feelings" about a certain jurisdiction have carried any weight!

We look for countries that have a deep and committed economy around providing this service. Deep and committed to us means that it makes up a major part of their GDP. This is why many small countries provide excellent legal protections, and more "well branded" countries, like the US and EU member states, are overvalued.

In 3-5 days.

Typically, 4-8 weeks.

Yes. But it won't be the same as how you access money in a personal bank account. For asset protection to work, it means that the day to day functions of the trust and all its assets (like a bank account) are run properly. This is where we come in.

No. That's the short answer.

The long answer is that it's a spectrum. Some assets are easier than others - cash, for example. Equity is another, as are investments, insurance, annuities, PPLIs, DSTs, and so on. If it’s on paper or is a paper, then it's pretty easy to protect.

If you can't hold it in your hand, though, things become more difficult. Boats aren't too difficult, but they can be seized. Commercial property can be protected but requires more layers under the trust. The jurisdiction of the trustee and/or trust comes into play here as well. Personal property, especially the house you live in, is defendable, but requires several steps to properly secure.

"... on the death of the settlor (or the last surviving settlor if there be more than one), the trustee shall distribute the trust fund or any part thereof to such one or more beneficiaries, on such terms and conditions, either outright or in trust, as the settlor may appoint by a will or codicil admitted to probate (or its equivalent) by a court of competent jurisdiction."

The trustee will distribute the assets to the beneficiaries. If there is a will, the trustee will distribute the trust according to the will.

A domestic trust is one that is in your country of citizenship. A foreign trust is one that is not in your country of citizenship. A secondary definition would alter "country of citizenship" to "country of business activity" or "country of residence." The underlying philosophy is that domestic trusts are any trust where you have a high degree of legal exposure. Foreign trusts are any trusts where you have a low, or non-existent degree, of legal exposure.

No. You can establish some form of trust in your home country without legal help, just like you can establish an LLC without legal help in your home country. For offshore activities this is not achievable. But if you are seriously considering setting up an asset protection plan without an expert then you aren't thinking about this subject seriously.

Yes. They will. They will come for everything they think they can get. This is why it's critical to hire the best team to set up and manage the trust so they spend their next five years paying legal fees and losing their hair, while you experience no impact.

Yes. They will. They will come for everything they think they can get. This is why it's critical to hire the best team to setup and manage the trust so they spend their next five years paying legal fees and losing their hair, while you experience no impact.

You can. But only if you are not seeking any asset protection. A family member as trustee means the "control" of your assets is held in your family. Courts routinely rule this to be effective control being held by the settlor (you), and therefore they will order you to repatriate your assets or go to jail for contempt until you change your mind. 

Putting a family member in place "just to be safe" and then switching to a true 3rd party trustee after you face litigation risks the same consequences. It's not safe to have family as the trustee. Your feelings on the matter have no bearing on what the law is or how proper asset protection strategies work.

Money that goes into the trust has already been taxed (e.g., profit from a business). Then, it depends on the tax law in the jurisdiction of the trust.

We only set up trusts where our clients incur zero additional tax liability. However, there are many situations where we can mitigate or eliminate tax payments through legal and financial mechanisms and use the trust structure, in addition to complex planning, to alter the taxes on the money that goes into the trust. Many of our clients pay nothing. But this is beyond asset protection planning and trust establishment.

No is the short answer. If this is your goal with asset protection, you have your priorities backwards.

However, once you enter the world of high finance and high law and have access to the resources we provide, we will find tax opportunities for you. We always do. The majority of the fees we charge are derived from finding you opportunities for cost reduction or investment growth that others can't. We are highly incentivized to solve these issues, post-trust setup.