DIFC Foundation Overview
As many people use this unprecedented amount of time at home to reflect on estate and succession planning we look at one of the successful tools used to help achieve personal goals. Rosemont Partners works with many international clients who choose to use foundations for wealth planning and philanthropy.
The Practical Uses of a Foundation:
- Charitable and philanthropic purposes
- Estate and succession planning
- Wealth preservation
- Asset protection
- Consolidation of worldwide assets
- Centralised reporting
- Inheritance tax planning
- Avoidance of forced heirship rules
- Privacy
- Separation of voting and economic benefit Maintenance of corporate control
- Employee share option schemes.
A foundation is an incorporated, self-owning legal entity, which although has much in common with limited companies and trusts, possess its own unique features. They are regarded as one of the most robust vehicles for holding private, commercial and charitable assets and eventually delivering them to an exact intended destination
Historically a foundation was mainly established in civil law jurisdictions as an alternative to common law trusts but now there are a limited number of common law jurisdictions offering them. As well as delivering confidentiality foundations offer the founder and beneficiaries a high degree of protection against creditors as well as providing certainty in forced heirship issues.
ABOUT DIFC:
DIFC is home to an internationally recognised, independent regulator and a proven judicial system with an English common law framework, as well as the region’s largest financial ecosystem. DIFC has positioned itself as a global business hub by maintaining international standards; providing a world-class physical, legal and regulatory infrastructure; ensuring the financial sustainability of DIFC and the companies established in the centre.
What are the Requirements of a DIFC Foundations?
- Minimum of one (1) founder
- Minimum of two (2) council members.
- A Foundation shall at all times have a registered office in the DIFC. This requirement may be satisfied by leasing an office in the DIFC, sharing an office with an affiliated entity already present in the DIFC, or by appointing a Registered Agent.
- A Foundation may not carry out any commercial activities, except those necessary for, and ancillary or incidental to, its objects.
- A Foundation that has a charitable object, or a specified non-charitable object must have a Guardian
