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Premier Trust
Professional Trustee Services in Switzerland
Asset Protection
Asset protection structures offer a number of benefits
Trustees Responsibility
Fiduciary duties of a trustee are some of the highest responsibilities
Flexibility
Best solution for fulfilling the settlor’s special needs
Premier Trust
Professional Trustee Services
Premier Trust is authorised in Switzerland to provide for Professional Trustee Services for discretionary trusts with Swiss Settlor, for both Swiss and foreign beneficiaries.
- We are active Trustees, providing positive, transparent and informed trusteeship, able to deal with assets that are substantial and complex. We identify potential problems and deal with them before adverse issues arise
- Our advisory and trustee work is strongly supported by a full range of legal, accounting and administrative services.
- We believe in designing solutions, fitting the specific needs of our clients and adapted to any changes in their personal, fiscal and professional environment.
- Our aim is to build long lasting relationships with our clients, our professional business partners and to provide them with genuine customized services, based on independent advice.
Most wealthy families use trusts to hold, for example, the shares of the family holding or significant real-estate projects, as they are extremely useful for asset protection.
If a trust is structured correctly and based in the right jurisdiction, it is an excellent tool for protecting a family’s assets from any possible threat inside or outside their home country because these assets are transferred into the possession of the trustee.
Asset protection structures – which often include a trust but may also include a foundation – offer a number of benefits, including:
- Succession Planning.
- Supporting younger members of the family.
- Preservation of family wealth in the event of a personal life changing event.
- Continuing your charitable commitments.
Asset Protection
Trustees Responsibility
As Trustees we are conscious of our fundamental duty to report and beneficiaries are able to directly access information on Trust assets using our sophisticated Portfolio Monitoring and other reporting systems as part of our service.
Our Trust and Company team works with internal and external advisers to implement and actively administer trusts and companies to the highest standards in the knowledge that for trust structuring to be effective, active and meticulous management is key.
The fiduciary duties of a trustee are some of the highest responsibilities imposed under law. The purpose of these rules is to protect the beneficiaries. Many of these duties are stated in the trust deed, and additional protection is provided by trust law.
While the trustee’s duties are too numerous to list in full here, several are worth mentioning. One of the most important duties requires the trustee to hold and administer the trust fund for the sole benefit of the beneficiaries. Under no circumstances whatsoever can the trustee deal with the trust fund for its own benefit. If the trustee violates this duty, severe penalties and sanctions can be imposed
Another important duty requires the trustee to exercise reasonable care in managing the trust fund. Sometimes referred to as the “Prudent Man” rule, this duty requires the trustee to act as a prudent and reasonable person would under the same circumstances. A trustee who fails to fulfil this duty can be held financially responsible for the resulting loss suffered by the trust fund.
The trustee may also have a duty to provide the beneficiaries with periodic accounting. This enables the beneficiaries to ensure that the trust is being administered in accordance with the terms of the trust deed and applicable trust law.
Because a trust is so flexible it is often the best solution for fulfilling the settlor’s special needs both during and after his or her lifetime. For example: the trust deed could provide for distribution of income to the settlor (as a beneficiary) and also grant the settlor, or someone chosen by him or her, power over investments, with the income after the settlor’s death distributed equally among the settlor’s children until they reach the age of 30, when they receive their share of the capital. There may be further provisions for alternative beneficiaries if any of the children do not survive until age 30. The possibilities are almost endless. The only real limitation is that the trust fund and the trustee’s duties and powers must be acceptable to the trustee.
The flexibility of a trust also makes it possible for the trustee to deal with unforeseeable changes in the future without undermining the settlor’s basic intentions in creating the trust. At the same time the settlor can retain sufficient control to make any modifications that may be required by a change in circumstances during his or her lifetime, even to the extent of revoking the trust or changing the trustee