Belize, formerly British Honduras, officially promotes the establishment of offshore asset protection trusts. It gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1981 and has a judicial system based on that of the United Kingdom. English is the principal language and the country allows unrestricted inflow and outflow of capital. As of 1992 Belize was serviced by four Banks (two of which were international) and had 350 registered foreign companies. It just commenced the registration of trusts in late 1992. Since that time its asset protection business has slowly and steadily grown.

The Belize Trust Act was enacted in 1992. This is a comprehensive and well conceived act which in section (6) provides that "the Court shall not vary [a trust settled under Belize law]...or set it aside or recognize the validity of any claim against the trust property pursuant to the law of another jurisdiction or the order of a court of another jurisdiction...over claims of creditors in an insolvency."

We believe Belize is an excellent jurisdiction for the settlement of an asset protection trust. The fees are moderate, communication excellent and the jurisdiction has not been sullied.