The election of Donald Trump to the presidency has led both the academic and mainstream press to publish and recirculate articles about the wealth of Trump and his advisors. Part of the recent focus has been on the use of offshore trusts. Many times couched within unseemly rhetoric, the press has pushed the notion that the use of such trusts is a means of tax evasion; a tool of the super-rich to remain wealthy and avoid paying their fair share of taxes. This is simply not the case. Offshore asset protection is a great risk mitigation and estate-planning tool. Offshore trusts are used by professionals, business owners, and high net worth individuals who need protections for their assets that cannot be achieved through the US court system. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals fearing malpractice suits frequently use these trusts to protect their estates from liability. And though there has certainly been some malfeasance in their utilization, foreign asset protection trusts, and the increasingly popular domestic assets protection trust, are extremely valuable means of asset protection that do not deserve the negative implications with which they have become associated.
See David B. Hamilton, In Defense of Offshore Trusts, The National Law Review, May 30, 2017.
Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.
