Question 1

Will a Cook Islands Trust protect my assets?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The Cook Islands Trust is widely regarded as the gold standard in offshore asset protection. The Cook Islands has built its statutory framework specifically around safeguarding trust assets — foreign court orders are not recognized, the trustee sits offshore, and any creditor seeking to reach the assets must initiate new litigation in the Cook Islands itself, under Cook Islands law, with local counsel, and against strict procedural requirements. The result is a structure that has consistently held up where domestic alternatives have not.

Question 2

Is this tax avoidance?

Accepted Answer

No. A properly-structured Cook Islands Trust is generally set up to be tax neutral. You report the trust to the IRS and FinCEN, however, this does not increase your tax liability or chance of an audit. With proper guidance, the tax reporting is simple.

Question 3

Do I lose control of my assets?

Accepted Answer

Your Cook Islands Trust will own a Cook Islands LLC that you manage giving you full control of your assets while no threat is imminent. You also have the ability to request the trustee take other actions and through a request to the Protector maintain the ability to change the Trustee.

Question 4

How long does setup take?

Accepted Answer

At Blake Harris Law we pride ourselves on speed and efficiency. While the industry standard for trust establishment is approximately 30 days, our clients usually establish their trust in under 2 weeks.

Question 5

What's the cost?

Accepted Answer

We do not bill hourly. Everything we do has a flat fee. Given our firm's level of experience in offshore asset protection we believe we provide our clients the best value in the industry. Click [here](/about/pricing) to read a complete breakdown of our pricing and the accompanying services.

Question 6

Is this legal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, setting up a Cook Islands Trust is legal. Critics often misrepresent case law and claim that setting up a Cook Islands Trust could land the settlor in jail. When established with proper guidance, a Cook Islands Trust does not cause anyone to go to jail or be held in contempt. [Read more about Cook Islands Trust case law.](/articles/case-law-cit)

Cook Islands Trust — your questions, answered.

Have a question that isn’t here?