Five Reasons For Placing One's Trust In – Well, Trusts

This article first appeared in International Investment

Many people are baffled by trusts, the purpose of which they don't fully comprehend. Some even regard them with suspicion, as tools of of opaque tax evasion strategies of a type favoured by wealthy individuals.

Here, David Cooney, partner and head of Private Client & Trusts with Ogier's Cayman Islands office details five reasons they remain an essential tool in wealth managers' tool kits, none of which has to do with tax evasion.

For many the word "trust", when used to describe a type of asset-holding device, has recently become synonymous with "tax reduction", or even "avoidance." This perception, in fact, has driven changes to trust legislation around the world.