Asset Protection with Seychelles Trusts and Foundations

What 'asset protection' actually means here

Asset protection through a trust or foundation means separating legal ownership of an asset from your personal estate, ahead of any dispute or claim arising — not shielding assets after a claim already exists, which most jurisdictions (Seychelles included) will not support, and which we would not assist with. Settled early, and for legitimate succession or estate-planning purposes, both structures can hold assets outside your personal name in a way that's more resilient to future, unforeseen claims than personal ownership.

Trust or foundation — the real difference

A trust is a relationship: a licensed trustee holds legal title to assets for the benefit of named beneficiaries, under the International Trusts Act. A foundation is a separate legal entity: it owns its own assets outright and is administered by a council under its own charter, under the Foundations Act 2009. Common-law-trained advisors and beneficiaries generally find a trust more familiar; clients from civil-law jurisdictions — where the trust concept has no direct legal equivalent — often find a foundation easier for their local courts, banks or tax authorities to work with.

In practice, we see clients use a trust or foundation to hold the shares of an operating Seychelles IBC — separating the asset-holding layer from the trading layer, and providing succession continuity if something happens to the founder.

What stays confidential

Neither the trust deed nor a foundation's register of councillors and beneficiaries is filed on a public register. Beneficial ownership information is held by the licensed trustee or registered agent and reported to the FSA and Financial Intelligence Unit under the Beneficial Ownership Act 2020 — visible to regulators, not to the public.