Who This is for
Every licence renewal, bank mandate, visa sponsorship and share transfer routes through one individual, and the structure stops functioning the moment that individual cannot sign.
Assets already held by a foundation do not need to be transferred out of an estate, because they were never in one.
A trading dispute, a supplier claim or a personal guarantee reaches whatever the defendant owns. Separation is a structuring decision, taken before the claim, not after.
Minor children, a beneficiary with a difficult marriage, a family member who should receive income rather than capital.
And ownership is scattered across personal holdings rather than consolidated in one governed structure.
Structures are easier to establish before residence, assets and tax positions move than after.
What's Included
How it Works
Establish what you own and what you are protecting against
Asset protection and succession are different objectives and they pull the design in different directions. Most clients want both, in a particular order. We establish that order first.
Test whether you need a foundation at all
Some situations are answered by a holding company, a properly drafted shareholders’ agreement and a will. We say so when that is the case. A structure that is more elaborate than the problem is a recurring cost with no corresponding benefit.
Select the jurisdiction
Different UAE regimes support foundations, and they differ in governance requirements, what may be held, how they are administered and how banks and counterparties treat them. Selection depends on your assets and objectives, not on a ranking.
Draft the constitution
The charter and by-laws are the substance of the exercise. They determine who controls the foundation, how beneficiaries are added or removed, what happens on the founder’s death or incapacity, and how disputes among a family are handled without going outside the structure.
Incorporate and appoint
The foundation is registered and its council, guardian and beneficiaries are put in place.
Transfer the assets
This is the stage that determines whether the structure is real. Each asset moves through its own process — a share transfer at the relevant registry, a property transfer with its own approvals and costs, a change of mandate at a bank. An empty foundation protects nothing.
Bank and operate
Accounts opened in the structure’s name, mandates set, and the documentation prepared in the form institutions expect for an entity with no shareholders.
Review
New assets, new beneficiaries, and changed circumstances or reporting obligations where the family is resident.
What We Need from You
Most of this is a scan and an email — none of it needs to be perfect before we talk, and we tell you exactly what is missing after the first review.
Timeline and Cost
Incorporation is generally the shortest part. The stages that determine the real timeline are the drafting of the constitution — which depends on how quickly a family reaches agreement — the transfer of assets into the structure, each of which follows its own registry’s process, and bank onboarding, which is decided by the institution rather than by us.
Our fee is fixed and agreed in writing against a defined scope: the structuring assessment, the incorporation and drafting, and each asset transfer as a defined item. It is anchored to the work, never to a percentage of the assets held or protected.
Annual administration is quoted separately so you can see the ongoing cost before committing to the structure, not after.
Get a Fixed QuoteWhere it Goes Wrong
The most common failure by a wide margin. The certificate is issued, the invoice is paid, and the shares and the property remain in the individual’s name. Nothing has been protected, and the family believes otherwise.
Moving assets once a claim, a dispute or a divorce is in prospect invites the transfer itself to be attacked. Asset protection is a decision taken while nothing is wrong, which is precisely when nobody feels the need to take it.
A structure in which the founder alone directs everything, benefits from everything and can undo everything may be treated as an extension of the individual. The design has to give something up to achieve anything.
Property with a mortgage, or shares subject to a pledge or a shareholders’ agreement with pre-emption rights, cannot simply be moved. Attempting it can breach the finance documents.
Changing ownership of an operating company without preparing the bank for it can trigger a review of the account, a request for fresh KYC on the new structure, and in some cases a suspension of the mandate at an inconvenient moment.
A council that discovers the governance provisions for the first time at the moment they are needed is a family argument waiting to happen. Beneficiaries and founders resident in other countries may also have disclosure obligations there — that belongs in the design conversation, with advice taken in that country before proceeding.
Questions
What does a foundation actually do that a company does not?
It has no shareholders. Because there are no shares, there is nothing to inherit, nothing to freeze and nothing to be transferred on a death — which is what makes it useful for continuity and succession.
Is this only for very wealthy families?
No, but it is not for everybody. There is a cost floor: incorporation, administration and the transfer of each asset. For a single property and one company, a will and a properly drafted shareholders’ agreement often achieve the objective more cheaply. We tell you when that is the case.
Will a foundation protect assets from a claim that already exists?
It should not be relied on to. A transfer made when a claim is in prospect is exposed to challenge on that basis. The value of these structures lies in having been established before anything went wrong.
Do I lose control of my assets?
You give up direct personal ownership and gain governance rights defined by the constitution — reserved powers, appointment of the council, and the ability to set and amend the terms within the limits the constitution allows. Complete control retained personally undermines the point of the exercise.
Do I still need a will?
Almost always. A foundation covers what it holds. Anything you own personally — a car, an account, a property acquired later — still needs a will, and the two documents should be drafted with knowledge of each other.
Can a foundation own shares in my operating company?
Yes, and that is one of its principal uses. Whether a given entity’s shares can be held this way depends on the company’s own constitutional documents and the rules of the registry it sits in, which we check before recommending anything.
Can the structure open a bank account?
Yes, though onboarding an entity with no shareholders requires the beneficial ownership and governance to be documented clearly. The decision belongs to the institution. What is within our control is which institution receives the file and what is in it.
How long does it stay in place?
It continues irrespective of what happens to any individual, until it is wound up under its own terms. That continuity is the reason most clients establish one.