{"id":46625,"date":"2022-10-17T15:56:03","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T20:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?page_id=46625"},"modified":"2022-10-17T16:43:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-17T21:43:00","slug":"a-cook-island-trust","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/a-cook-island-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"A COOK ISLAND TRUST"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUILDING YOUR GLOBAL WEALTH FORTRESS UPON A COOK ISLAND TRUST<\/h1>\n

\"Cook<\/p>\n

B y : J o e l M . N a g e l<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We will examine first the Cook Islands and then Belize as well as compare and contrast these two outstanding asset protection jurisdictions. Both the Cook Islands as well as Belize grew out of the English Common Law tradition, dating back a thousand years. As both include specific legislative enactments giving these jurisdictions competitive advantages over virtually all other trust jurisdictions, they are my two top jurisdictions for asset protection planning, especially for those with above-average risk profiles. More on Belize next month.<\/p>\n

The Cook Islands (or \u201cCooks\u201d for short) is an archipelago of some 15 islands in the South Pacific with a population according to the United Nations of only 17,566 people with another 60,000 or so inhabitants living in New Zealand who claim Cook Islands’ ancestry. The islands are located to the northeast of New Zealand and directly south of the US Hawaiian Island chain.<\/p>\n

The Cooks have been inhabited for just over a thousand years with the first inhabitants migrating from Polynesia. The 15th and 16th centuries saw occasional Portuguese and Spanish ships frequent the Islands as they explored the region. In 1774 and later in 1777, the British Sea Captain James Cook visited the islands which is how the Cooks got their name. European Christian missionaries settled in the islands in the 1820s and were followed soon thereafter by whaling ships as a stopover for food and fresh water. The island became a British protectorate in 1888 and later annexed by Great Britain in 1900. They were then included as a territory of the British colony of New Zealand in 1901 creating a special association between the Cooks and New Zealand which has lasted to this day. Under the British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act of 1949, the Cook Islanders became citizens of New Zealand. This status is also still in effect despite the fact that the Cooks were granted autonomy and self-governance in 1965. Their current status is as an independent country in \u201cfree association\u201d with New Zealand which represents the Cooks in foreign affairs as well as provides for its judiciary system (New Zealand courts interpreting Cook Island laws).\"\"<\/p>\n

The Cooks have their own direct bilateral diplomatic relations currently with 43 countries and they have subscribed to numerous multilateral organizations and treaties. (But is not itself a member of the UN). Queen Elizabeth is the titular head of State as part of the British Commonwealth. The Cook Islands passed its first Trust law statute in 1984, modeled loosely on the 1961 codified Trust Act in operation at the time in the Isle of Man. Later, and more importantly, the Cooks amended that original law in 1989 with the assistance of US legal and asset protection specialists to create the basis of the very solid asset protection laws in effect today.<\/p>\n

That amendment introduced some of the world\u2019s first legislative asset protection features and litigation barriers found in any trust act. The amended law provided for:<\/p>\n