¶ 3001
Overview
Scope of the chapter. The first twenty-nine chapters of this volume examine the Cook Islands international trust, the limited liability company and the foundation one at a time, together with the courts, the regulator, the tax system and the reporting regimes that surround them. This chapter puts the parts together. It sets out the questions a planner should answer before choosing a structure, compares the four vehicles that Cook Islands law offers for holding private wealth (the international trust, the limited liability company, the foundation and the international company), and then works through four combinations: an international trust that owns a Cook Islands LLC; a foundation that owns an LLC; a trust and a foundation used together; and a structure that includes an international company. The second half of the chapter is a drafting guide. It takes the international trust deed, the LLC operating agreement and the foundation rules clause by clause and points to the place in the earlier chapters where each clause is discussed and, where one is given, to the model provision. The chapter ends with a master checklist for implementing and maintaining a structure.
What the chapter does not repeat. The analysis of each statute is in the chapter devoted to it, and this chapter cross-refers to that analysis by paragraph. The model provisions in chapters 6 to 27 are not reproduced here. The drafting tables in ¶¶ 3070 and 3080 list them so that a drafter can assemble an instrument from them. Where a point of law has been decided, the earlier chapter gives the authority. Where a point is open, the earlier chapter says so, and this chapter does not restate open points as settled.
The statutes. Four statutes do most of the work. The International Trusts Act 1984 governs the international trust and contains the creditor-protection provisions in sections 13A to 13K. See supra ch. 5 (history and amendments) and chs. 21–23 (fraudulent dispositions, bars to suit and foreign judgments). The Limited Liability Companies Act 2008, as amended in 2013, governs the LLC. See supra chs. 12–16. The Foundations Act 2012, as amended in 2013 and by the Trustee Companies Act 2014, governs the foundation. See supra chs. 18–20. The International Companies Act governs the international company, which is now taxed in the Cook Islands for income years after its transitional period ended on 31 December 2021. See supra ¶ 2601 and ch. 26 generally. The Trustee Companies Act 2014 governs the licensed trustee companies that must sit at the centre of every one of these vehicles. See supra ch. 4.
The status of the proposed LLC revisions. Chapter 17 sets out a committee proposal, submitted on 1 April 2026, to revise the Limited Liability Companies Act 2008. The proposal is pending before Parliament and has not been enacted. See supra ¶ 1701 and ch. 17 generally. Every drafting suggestion in this chapter is made under the Act as it stands. Where the proposal would change the analysis, the chapter says so and labels the point as a proposal.
How to use the chapter. A planner meeting a new client should start with the design questions in ¶ 3010 and the comparison in ¶ 3020, choose a pattern from ¶¶ 3030 to 3060, and then use the drafting guide in ¶¶ 3070 and 3080 to assemble the instruments. The master checklist in ¶ 3090 is meant to be worked through at the time of formation and again at each annual review. The examples in this chapter use composite facts. None describes a real client or a reported case.