How to set up a trust in Liechtenstein

Before you start: what you decide

Before opening a trust under the PGR, decide five things with your lawyer. A direction on each point is enough on day one; final answers can wait.

• Who benefits. The deed names or describes the beneficiaries, for example as a class such as your children and their descendants.
• What goes in. Cash, listed securities, shares in a private company or art held through a company each need different paperwork.
• Holding company, or none. If a company sits under the trust, the trustee holds its shares and daily dealings run through the company.
• Who holds which role. Besides the trustee, the deed can create a protector and name who may advise on investments.
• What you keep. Your lawyer explains how much control you can keep without weakening the trust.

Your answers become a short brief that goes to the lawyer and the trustee together, cutting the number of drafting rounds.

The law page sets out the rules of the PGR behind each point, with sources.

Step by step: from enquiry to signed deed

Two gates apply: signing follows your lawyer’s review of the deed, and funding follows the trustee’s acceptance of office.

A law firm in the principality drafts the deed, and your own lawyer reviews it. We keep both sides working from the same checklist.

When the trust is running, use the overview to see which party handles what.

Documents the trustee asks for

Before the trustee takes office, it needs a complete file on you and on each person named in the deed. We gather it in one round to spare you repeat requests.

The settlor sends:

• A certified passport copy, in the form the trustee directs.
• A recent proof of address, issued within the last few months.
• Your tax identification number and your country of tax residence.
• A short account of how your wealth arose, with papers to back it.

People holding a role, such as beneficiaries, protectors and company directors, send identity papers, an address and details of what they do in the deed.

For the assets, expect to send statements, share registers or sale contracts. For art or other collections, purchase papers and valuations show what is moving and that it is yours to move.

Expect self-certification forms for tax reporting on the trust and on any company it owns. Documents in German may need a translation into English.

Identity and source-of-funds checks

These checks usually take longest, because each transfer has to be backed by evidence.

For each planned transfer we ask how the funds arose. Payslips and tax returns back up savings, a sale agreement backs up a business sold, and accounts back up a company you keep.

Under our risk policy, bigger or more intricate transfers attract more questions. Anything that cannot be evidenced is flagged to you early, not after drafting has begun.

Then the trustee runs its own checks; many of its questions mirror ours, so we answer from the file to keep repeats low.

After the trust is set up

After signing, the work turns to funding and running the trust. Assets move into the trustee’s name or into a company the trust owns, and each move is recorded.

From then on, the trustee holds meetings and passes resolutions on distributions, investments and changes of beneficiary. You send us requests, we prepare the papers, and the trustee decides under the deed.

The trustee keeps the accounts current each year, and we send you a report. Your lawyer confirms which filings under the PGR apply to your structure.

Then read what shapes the cost of running the structure. Points that this guide leaves out are answered in the short answers.