Private Interest Foundations

Private Interest Foundations

Foundations have been around since before the dark ages -- literally.

They are reported to have been in use during the later part of the Roman Empire.

While they have no analogue in Anglo-Saxon law, they are an incredibly useful and flexible tool. For the uninitiated a good way to think of a Foundation is like a hybrid between a Corporations and trusts.

While foundations were originally conceived to take care of the shared interest of large groups (like townships) their recent popularity has come about as a result of the privacy, flexibility, and anonymity in their use as asset protection and intergenerational, heirship, and inheritence planning.

The "private interest foundation" began when the principality of Liechtenstein created the Law of Persons and Companies", Jan. 20, 1926.

Since then, wealthy families in Europe leveraged the private interest foundation in Liechtenstein for the purpose of estate-planning necessities, to ensure the safe transition of assets to the family's beneficiaries.

Today, Liechtenstein Foundations can cost upwards of 25k to incorporate and up to 10k/year to maintain.

The Panama Private Interest Foundation was created by law in 1995 by taking some of the most desirable elements from three other jursidiction's foundations: Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

In my next entry, I'll discuss some of the benefits Panama's Private Interest Foundation offer families and individuals. And, I'll discuss where they are useful, and what their limitations include.