How to get Immunity from Lawsuits
There are a number of strategies to immunise yourself from the threat of lawsuits.
Obviously if you’re not living in the same country where your business is located and it’s not easy to either serve proceedings on you or build up a picture of your assets then the risk is substantially reduced.
In any case you should hold no assets in your own name.
Any assets that you do hold personally should have secured loans against them. Assuming you’ve done all this which entity should own your businesses homes, cars and other assets?
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If you want to have rock solid asset protection and privacy an LLC from Nevis is one of the best options. A Nevis LLC offers some of the best asset protection and privacy in the Offshore world.
Here are 10 reasons why you might want to park your assets in a Nevis LLC:
1. Nevis does not recognise judgements from other countries
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Many countries have treaties where you can take a judgement in the court of one country and have it stamped in the court of another country.
If a creditor obtains a judgement against you in London, for example, he can easily take it to the BVI and have it enforced there. Nevis doesn’t recognise such judgements.
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2. Shareholders are anonymous
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There is no searchable register of members of Nevis companies. Your adversaries will not know that you’re a shareholder of any Company in Nevis to start with.
The best way to protect your assets is if nobody knows that you own them in the first place.
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3. A bond of $100,000 is required to file a lawsuit
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Assuming your adversary knows that you have an interest in a Nevis Company and decides to sue he will have to post a bond of $100,000 to the court in Nevis.
This is a very strong deterrent as your creditor might think it’s not worth his while to sue when the outcome is unknown.
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4. Assets only need to have been in the company for 1 year for full protection
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In any jurisdictions the Company needs to have been in existence and have held the disputed assets for 2 or 3 years to offer full protection against fraudulent transfers. In Nevis the period is only 1 year.
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5. Additional burden of proof for fraudulent transfers
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Fraudulent transfer allegations usually come about when assets are transferred before or during a lawsuit, divorce or bankruptcy. The courts in Nevis have a very high burden of proof for allegations like this.
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6. Protection from transferring assets under duress
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If you have a judgement against you in your home country and the judge orders you to liquidate the assets of the Nevis Company.
In such a case the directors of the Nevis Company can refuse to act on your instructions because you’re being forced to act under duress.
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7. Low filing requirements and running costs
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There are minimal annual filings for the Company. Normally just an annual declaration that the Company still exists and the shareholders which are not public.
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8. Charging order protection
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No creditor can freeze the assets of the Company in Nevis.
If there is a court order against a member of the Company only future distributions in favour of that member could be seized.
Clearly in this scenario you could ensure that there would be no future distributions to that member.
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9. Individual Members can’t be sued
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Individual members of the Company can’t be sued in a Nevis court. Only the LLC can be sued if the conditions are met.
I think you can see that using a Nevis Company affords bullet proof asset protection in a tax free vehicle. Definitely something worth considering depending on your own Offshore strategy.
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For help with setting up a Nevis Company email help@offshorefortress.com or contact us here.
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Offshore Fortress can help with your offshore strategy including:
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Offshore Companies
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Second Passports and Residencies
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Legal Tax Avoidance
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Offshore Bank Accounts