LAWS OF INHERITANCE
Apart from an investor's desire for confidentiality and tax reduction provided by offshore jurisdictions, there are other attractions to establishing offshore holding companies and trusts. Many civil law jurisdictions have strict laws of inheritance—so-called laws of succession—that dictate who is entitled to inherit a decedent's property. Common law rules of inheritance (such as those in the BVI and the United States) generally allow a person to decide for himself who should inherit his property. Common law courts generally have not given effect to conflicting civil law rules of inheritance. This flexibility provides the creator of a common law trust with the opportunity to arrange for the transfer of assets after death in a manner contrary to that prescribed in the creator's country of residence.
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