L4L provides consulting regarding the Trust, Asset protection and privacy, Trust for companies and households.
In two words, the institution of the Trust
The trust (literally “count”) is an institute of the legal system of common law of Anglo-Saxon origin, which arose within the jurisdiction of equity, which is used to adjust a variety of legal relations of financial nature (insulation and protection of assets, controlled capital managements and in matters of succession, pension, corporate and tax law). The trust is a legal instrument, in the interest of one or more beneficiaries or for a specific purpose, wich allows to structure in various ways “legal positions” based on fiduciary bonds.
There is no hard and unit trust model, but those involved are still identified as:
- Settlor: Natural or legal person establishing the trust and normally giving it the assets contained in the Trust’s fund. In practice, the settlor works with an irrevocable assignment, so the goods flow into the fund definitively, leaving the material and legal availability (except reserves usufruct, possession, etc). Also the control on the trustee’s actions is vested in persons other than the settlor (protector, beneficiary) so as to avoid the risk that the Trust may be considered simulated and therefore void, since in many jurisdictions the power of the settlor of the set up trust is expected mild extent.
- Beneficiary: Even the beneficiary may be a natural or legal person or a set of specific individuals even not yet in existence at the time of incorporation of the trust, as is often happen in the trusts set up for charity (grandchildren and great-grandchildren).
- Manager (Trustee) The trustee may be seen as an individual person, a professional adviser of the settlor, or a legal entity such as a pension fund. The trust deed governs the rights and obligations of the trustee and, in cases of multiple trustees, the ways of resolving disputes.
- Protector: figure who checks and authorizes the Trustee to perform scheduled tasks.
- Described as a cross between a bond and a “special property”, the trust can be used for many reasons. The most frequent are:
- Asset protection: often the trust is set up to protect property; for it is not uncommon in fact the use of the term “armouring sheet”. One of the most appreciated features of the trust is the segregation of the assets allocated so that they will be insensitive to any detrimental event involving personally one or more protagonists of the trust. Because of this very useful feature the trust is increasingly used to separate and protect your personal assets from the company one or to protect all those individuals whose assets can be compromised by risky occupations (doctors, lawyers, civil servants, etc.) or, simply, by reckless personal behavior (gambling, drugs and alcohol, etc.).
- Confidentiality: the provisions in the trust can be reserved, and this may be a sufficient reason for its creation; confidentiality refers mainly to trusts cd. ‘Opaque’ (in Italy penalized by the tax law), where trust can be an excellent tool for controlling agencies and companies (usually is used abroad in engineering tax).
- Protection of children and persons with disabilities: often, as seen, the testamentary provisions stipulate that minors have a limited enjoyment of the goods until they become adults or persons with disabilities can enjoy the trust property without being full owners.
- Protection of assets for inheritance purposes: frequently a trust is established in order to protect assets in the generational change or by squandering by persons unable to administer it, addicted to gambling or affected by excessive extravagance