Open for Business in Hong Kong

We are pleased to announce the opening of a new office for Lighthouse Trust operations in Hong Kong. For many years, Lighthouse has arranged company management, insurance management, and bespoke fiduciary services in Hong Kong. The formal opening of our Hong Kong office enables us to provide an even broader array of services, including account establishment and maintenance with leading …

New Offices Coming July 1st

We are pleased to announce the relocation of our Zug office to Bahnhofstrasse 20.  With the relocation, Lighthouse Trust will occupy a prominent place in one of Zug’s best known buildings.  Situated on the city’s main thoroughfare, the new office will be a short walk from the main train station, connecting visitors with the European-wide rail network. Clients of Lighthouse Trust know …

There is No Such Thing as a Delaware Asset Protection Trust

For decades, Delaware has served as a panacea for business planning.  Business filings are relatively cheap, there is no income tax applicable to a business not operating in Delaware, and Delaware has proactively implemented innovative business legislation, such as the series LLC. Yet, overlooked by many lawyers is the fact that Delaware’s demographics have changed over the past several decades. …

New 2704(b) Regulations Open Door to Opportunities

At long last, the U.S. Treasury Department published the highly anticipated proposed regulations under IRC Sections 2703 and 2704. These regulations target the predominant estate tax planning technique of using family limited partnerships ( FLPs) and family limited liability companies (FLLCs), among other types of family-owned enterprises, to achieve transfer tax cost reductions.  For example, a senior family member may transfer valuable assets …

Cayman Islands Underwhelms with New LLC Legislation

On December 18, 2015, the Cayman Islands advanced legislation providing for the formation and registration of limited liability companies.  While the legislation has not yet been enacted into law, the text of the bill has been published, and our expert staff has now had a chance to review the proposal. About Our Staff Lawyers on our service team have contributed to …

Choosing the Right Entity for Asset Protection

We frequently encounter the same two questions posed to us by both lawyers and their clients: Which entity is best for asset protection? Which jurisdiction is best for an asset protection entity? Answering these two questions properly requires that we first define several key terms both to identify planning objectives and to define success. Asset Protection:      “Asset protection” is a …

2015 Nevis Trust Law: Even Greater Asset Protection

Introduction In 1996, the Nevis Island Assembly enacted the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, Cap. 7.03 (“NIETO”), to bring certainty and clarity to international trust planning.  A number of provisions in the NIETO catered to the needs of lawyers and their clients engaged in asset protection planning, including: Preclusion of the Statute of Elizabeth principles governing the determination of a …

Nevis LLCs: The Business Context for Asset Protection

“Asset protection” is a term used to describe legal planning that shields a client’s assets from the unanticipated claims of creditors.  Asset protection planning employs any number of techniques in isolation or in conjunction to achieve this objective. A competent asset protection plan assumes that, at some point in the future, the client may be in some form of legal …

The OneTrust: The Complete Estate Planning & Asset Protection Solution

Over the past several years, Lighthouse Trust has worked with experienced estate planning lawyers in the United States to offer our “OneTrust” solution to U.S.-resident clients.  The OneTrust provides a comprehensive set of benefits: An estate planning trust that is excludible for estate tax purposes while providing for the grantor during life A family limited partnership or family limited liability company to serve important …