Offshore Asset Protection Trusts
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Date
2014-03
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Law, Rivers State University of Science and Technology
Abstract
The demand for offshore and onshore structures to provide legal mechanisms for the defense of family property is significant. According to UK and US intelligence sources, 60 percent of all the money in the world is held offshore. Industry specialists claim that 40 percent of that amount is held in or under offshore trusts. In the past decades, the preferred vehicle has been the so-called asset protection trust. In many jurisdictions, the concept of trust as an ordinary instrument of planning of property management has been adapted in modern times to produce a very flexible medium of asset protection in form of offshore trusts. Offshore centres include these trusts in an amalgam of products to attract investments from non-resident individuals. The other attraction of these trusts is the tax advantages they offer either through the non-residency rules or the Double Taxation Treaties. Although, the massive increase in the use of offshore trusts over the past 50 years, often in jurisdictions with either no, or inadequate, trust law, has led to a corresponding explosion in litigation. Yet, the importance of offshore trust in jurisdiction where it is being adopted and practiced is enormous as it has brought tremendous economic development in those jurisdictions. It is against backdrop that this paper x-rays the concept of offshore trust, its characteristics and its advantages. This is with a view to recommending offshore trust business and necessary Act in Nigeria in order to enhance its economic development.
Description
Keywords
Trust, offshore, settlor, assets, beneficiary, creditor and taxation
Citation
14. Salman, R. K., & Salman, R. T. (2014). Offshore Assets Protection Trusts: A Catalyst of Social and Economic Development in Nigeria. Port Harcourt Law Journal 6 (1), 169-192. Published by Faculty of Law, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.