Private Trust

We can help you understand the benefits of a Private Trust Company and whether it is the right planning solution for you.

The desire for flexibility

We are seeing a growing trend in the use of private trust company structures by clients and their advisers who are seeking to maintain flexibility and mitigate against loss of control.

Growth has been evidenced within RKG Klozer  Trust Ltd with a number of new private trust company structures being established over the past two years and several enquiries relating to the migration of structures from British Virgin Islands (BVI) or Cayman Islands to Jersey.

What are the advantages for the client?

Family control

• The client, or their wider family, can retain a greater degree of control over the trust affairs without compromising the validity of the family trusts. The client can compose the board of directors with themselves included, and further include family members and trusted advisers who have a heightened knowledge of the family’s business and financial affairs and are empathetic to the needs of the beneficiaries.

Ease of changing trusteeship

• The relative ease with which the registered service provider can be changed. With a private trust company it is not necessary to change the trustee or to transfer the title of trust assets when the registered service provider is changed, thus avoiding the requirement for legal deeds, indemnities and other documentation. Where the underlying client wishes to change the administrator of their private trust company for any reason, all that is required is the resignation and appointment of new directors, and notification of the new registered person responsible for the administration of the private trust company to the local registry; namely the Jersey Financial Services Commission in Jersey.

Speed of decision-making

• An often overlooked but important benefit of a private trust company is the ability of the private trust company to react quickly to changing circumstances. This is particularly relevant where a family trust owns the shares of an active trading company. Decisions often need to be taken quickly and the board of a private trust company will often be more familiar with the transactions of the underlying company than a corporate trustee, and therefore more capable of reacting quickly to changing circumstances.

Privacy

• The private trust company affords the client an additional measure of confidentiality, with the comfort that a robust corporate governance approach will be observed with a trusted partner, who is both regulated and based in a politically stable country.