Foundations

Foundations

A private foundation is a legal entity set up by an individual, a family or a group of individuals, for the benefit of the founders. A foundation can also have charitable or philanthropic purposes. It has long been associated with civil law jurisdictions, most notably Liechtenstein (but also Austria, Switzerland, Panama, St Kitts, Seychelles, Nevis, Anguilla, Malta, Curaçao and the Netherlands Antilles) and less frequently in common law countries such as the Bahamas (introduced in 2004). Recent years have also seen common law jurisdictions such as Jersey, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Mauritius introduce legislation allowing the establishment of foundations.

General information

Foundations have their origins in civil law countries. An early forerunner was the Roman law concept of the fideicommissum. It was used by Romans to avoid restrictions on who could be instituted as an heir. For example, where A wanted to give property to C, but C was not within the possible class of heirs, A would institute B (who was within the class) as heir, and charge him with handing over the property to C, either straight away or at some specified time.

Broadly speaking, a foundation

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