Use This Secret Tool to Protect Your Wealth from Legal Predators
A Panama Foundation can be a useful part of your asset protection strategy. It is a separate legal entity, somewhat similar to a trust. It does not have shareholders or directors.
A Panama Foundation is established by a declaration of the Founder. The Founder can be an individual or a company. The purpose of the Foundation is to preserve assets for the Founder or the Beneficiaries.
Assets transferred to the Foundation can’t be claimed by any other party after 3 years, so assets owned by the foundation will be immune from seizure by creditors, ex-spouses, lawsuits, bankruptcy trustees, etc.
Panama Foundations are exempt from tax in Panama. Therefore any investment gains made on the foundation’s assets will be tax-free worldwide.
No annual reporting is necessary. You’ll simply pay a small annual fee to the Panama government.
Panama Foundations are inexpensive to establish and maintain. In some jurisdictions, you can spend 10s of thousands of dollars establishing a trust or foundation. In Panama, you can establish a foundation for a couple of thousand.
Any Individual or Legal Entity Can be a Beneficiary
Beneficiaries of the Foundation could be family members, any other legal entity, such as a company, or even yourself. The beneficiaries are never public and are only held on record by your Panamanian lawyer. Only the name and the officers of the foundation can be found in public at the Panama national registry.
The Foundation has a council of at least 3 members. You can also appoint a Protector to oversee the council if you wish. You can choose your own council members or appoint local nominees for a greater degree of privacy.
Normal uses of a Panama Foundation are to hold shares and investments to benefit the Foundation. Your Panama foundation could own the shares in an operating company that you want to protect from creditors. If you think you may have future liabilities from a divorce, for example, this will protect the asset as you will no longer own it. You will not have to disclose any assets owned by the Foundation to anybody as you legally are not the owner of those assets.
Avoid Forced Heirship Rules
Panama Foundations are also used to avoid forced heirship rules that some countries have. If you want to exclude a spouse or other family member from inheriting some of your wealth you can place it in a Panama Foundation and choose the beneficiary that you want that wealth to go to.
Your Panama Foundation can also own real estate overseas which offers another layer of protection for this kind of asset.
The initial capital of a Panama Foundation is at least $10,000. This doesn’t have to be in cash. It can be paid by transferring assets to the Foundation.
Panama Foundations can be set up quickly and efficiently. Normally it’s possible to set up a new foundation in a few days.
An Excellent Asset Protection Tool
Panama Foundations are an excellent tool for asset protection. It’s a far superior option to trusts and foundations from some of the English-speaking jurisdictions as it offers another level of protection that’s much more difficult for any financial enemies to penetrate. There are strong secrecy rules in Panama. They will not disclose information about foundations to any foreign country. Under existing Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties they can only disclose information about Foundations if they’re connected to drug trafficking.
