Services / Asset Protection Trusts

The structure the courts have honored.

An asset protection trust is the most considered instrument in the wealth-preservation toolkit — provided it is established under a statute that refuses creditor reach, in a court that has demonstrated the will to enforce that refusal, and administered by a trustee with the standing to defend it. We work in two such jurisdictions.

What asset protection is — and is not.

Asset protection planning is the deliberate structuring of a client's holdings so that they fall outside the reach of unanticipated future creditors. It is not, and has never been, a tool for defeating a known creditor or an established claim; no competent practitioner has ever offered it as one. Furthermore, no plan is bulletproof. Every structure has its strengths, its weaknesses, and the cases that have tested both. The work is to choose the structure whose strengths match the risks the client is most likely to face.

Belize — the statute that refuses to entertain.

In 2000, Belize became the first country to enact a law specifically barring creditors from reaching the assets of a properly registered trust, regardless of circumstance. The Belize Supreme Court, in SEC v. Swiss Trade and Commerce Trust, Ltd. et al. (1994), confirmed that the protective features of the Belize Trusts Act preclude even Mareva injunctions on trust assets, and the 2019 U.S. Bankruptcy Court decision in In re Rensin confirmed that creditors cannot reach those assets without joining the Belize trustee — which Belize law makes substantially impossible.

Nevis — the statute we helped draft.

The 2015 amendments to the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, drafted with the collaboration of members of our service team, provide a particularly considered framework:

Transfers in trust before a creditor's cause of action accrues cannot be set aside as fraudulent.
A one-year fixed-window statute of limitations on fraudulent-transfer claims.
Creditors must post a bond of EC $270,000 to bring a claim against a Nevis trust.
Mareva injunctions and Anton Piller orders are not available against a Nevis trust.
Anti-duress provisions permit the trustee to set aside instructions from settlors, protectors, or beneficiaries acting under creditor compulsion.
Tax-qualified trust forms — CRATs, CRUTs, GRATs, GRUTs — are recognized and enforceable under Nevis law.

Custody — the part most firms cannot solve.

A trust statute, however well-drafted, is only as strong as the bank that will hold the assets. The last decade of regulatory tightening has narrowed the pool of foreign banks willing to maintain asset-protection custodial relationships — and most that remain refuse clients already in litigation, with a growing tendency to freeze assets if litigation arises during the relationship. We have, over years, built proprietary custodial relationships specifically for clients in adverse circumstances, including those in active litigation. The protective architecture of a Belize or Nevis trust does not stop at the statute; it includes the standing custodial channel.

How we administer them.

Establishment and annual maintenance are covered by a single fee, fixed at the moment you engage us. That fee includes the cost of any co-trustee services required by the law of the chosen jurisdiction. Work outside that scope — reporting, advisory matters, and items arising during the life of the structure — is billed at our hourly time rates or by separate agreement. We work directly with your counsel to select the jurisdiction whose law best matches the protective objectives, and we administer the trust on its terms thereafter.

Belize APT vs Nevis APT — when to use which.

Attribute	Belize	Nevis
Statutory architecture	Trusts Act, Cap. 202 (1992; revised 2020). § 7(6) closes the door on foreign-judgment enforcement; § 7(7) excludes foreign fraudulent-transfer law altogether.	Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance (1996; amended 2015). Drafted with the firm's input. Multiple operative levers — duress, evidentiary threshold, bond, prohibition on Mareva relief.
Limitations period	None. The statutory bar at § 7(6) operates immediately on transfer; no waiting period applies.	Fixed one-year window from the date the creditor's cause of action accrues. Pre-claim transfers are protected outright.
Creditor bond	No statutory bond requirement.	EC $270,000 (≈ US $100,000) bond required before the creditor may proceed in Nevis.
Foreign judgments	Belize courts shall not recognize the validity of any foreign-jurisdiction claim against trust property (§ 7(6)).	Foreign judgments are not directly enforceable; the creditor must litigate locally and clear the bond + evidentiary threshold.
Evidentiary threshold	Inapplicable. § 7(6) bars the creditor's claim from being heard at all, so no question of evidentiary standard arises.	Beyond reasonable doubt. The same standard a criminal court applies.
Duress provision	Not codified in the trust statute.	§ 13 of the NIETO requires those with power over the trust to disregard instructions given under duress.
Mareva and Anton Piller relief	Available in principle; not seen in practice given § 7(6).	§ 23(9) prohibits both as remedies under the NIETO.
Where it fits	Where the matter calls for the simplest, most absolute statutory shield. The right vehicle when the structure does not need the bond, evidentiary, or duress tools — and when speed of formation matters.	Where the matter calls for layered defenses — particularly where bond costs and evidentiary thresholds are themselves expected to deter litigation, and where duress instructions might otherwise be an attack surface.

The statutes that frame this work.

Belize Trusts Act

Cap. 202 · 1992; revised 2020

The Belize statute under which we register asset protection trusts. Treats foreign creditor claims as categorically outside the Belize court’s jurisdiction.

§ 7(6): Belize courts shall not recognize the validity of any claim against trust property based on foreign law or court order.
§ 7(7): Foreign fraudulent-transfer law has no application to a Belize trust.

Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance

NIETO · 1996; amended 2015

The Nevis trust framework, materially strengthened in 2015 with the firm’s drafting input. A high evidentiary threshold, a substantial bond requirement, and an explicit duress provision.

§ 13: Persons with power over the trust must disregard instructions given under duress.
§ 23(3): Fixed one-year window for fraudulent-transfer claims.
§ 23(4): Pre-claim transfers in trust cannot be set aside as fraudulent.
§ 23(9): No Mareva injunctions or Anton Piller orders against international trusts.
§ 55: EC $270,000 creditor bond required before claims may proceed.

Available in

Belize · Nevis

Lighthouse Trust · Asset Protection Trusts

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