Panama Private Interest Foundations For Asset Protection

There are a multitude of reasons you could consider moving your assets to an offshore tax haven that are perfectly legal and legitimate. Some examples include; increased financial privacy and protection from frivolous litigation at home, fears over your local banking system or local government instability to name a few. Panama is unique in the world as it offers many methods for protecting your wealth through layered strategies that include the Panama private interest foundation or PPIF which is a nearly bullet proof asset protection vehicle when used properly.

The Panama Foundation was created by the legislative arm of Panama's government in 1995 and can be thought of as a form of marriage between trusts and wills with the protective benefits associated with Panama offshore companies. The statutes that underpin this asset protection structure were inspired by the "Stiftung" model that was first introduced in Liechtenstein. In general, a Panama Foundation has:

- the Founder - the person who forms the foundation and pays in the initial capital; - Council - like a company board of directors, council members are recorded in the public registry; Protector - appointed by council at the creation of the Foundation; Beneficiary - appointed by the Protector and can remain anonymous.

The real strength of the Private interest foundation is provided to the protector and beneficiaries by the protector. For example, you may want to use your Panama foundation as an asset protection buffer against unfavorable inheritance laws in your country. Panama's foundation laws protect the rights of the protector upon their death by not charging an inheritance tax on the foundations assets.

Having a proper letter of instruction is of paramount importance to maintain the Foundation upon death or incapacitation of the Foundation protector. This letter of instruction can specify a new protector or beneficiaries of the Foundations assets or other special instructions. These letters can remain in secret with no one knowing who the beneficiary or protector of the foundation truly is.

While a Panama Foundation cannot do "for profit" business it can own; Panama corporations, real estate, bank accounts and other assets.

The only way that the assets of a Panama foundation can be sequestered is to show a Panama court that the Foundation is engaged in illegal activities. If the court accepts this evidence the foundation's assets may be sequestered and then frozen until a trial verdict is reached on the charges.

The PPIF offers a very sophisticated, anonymous and protective vehicle to asset protection.

Article Source: http://www.orbitaloc.com/

To gain a more detailed understanding of offshore foundations or offshore asset protection please visit the author's OffshoreLegal.org website.

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