If an asset is owned by an “Offshore” Company (and especially if that Company is registered in a privacy haven) it can be very hard to seize the asset or the Company (ie if a judgment is entered against you and you are the underlying beneficial owner of the Offshore that has received the asset). This is so on 2 counts:

(a)   Foreign judgments are rarely recognized by “Offshore” Courts; &

(b)   Generally the judgment creditor would need to be able to prove that you are the underlying beneficial owner of the Offshore Company (which would be all but impossible to do if the Company is registered in a privacy haven ie somewhere which has no public register of directors or shareholders or beneficial owners).

What you would need to be wary of however is the possible impact of onshore Insolvency Laws. For example in most developed countries:

(a)   any transfer of assets within 6 months of you going bankrupt can be overturned and the asset clawed back by the Bankruptcy Trustee

(b)   a transfer of an asset where the primary purpose of the transfer was to defeat a creditor can be overturned and the asset clawed back by the Bankruptcy Trustee at anytime (ie regardless of when the asset was transferred).

That said the claw back power only pertains to the initial transfer of the asset (eg from you to the Offshore Entity). So what you would want to do is ensure that the asset is transferred through 2 sets of hands ie from you to Offshore Entity One and From Offshore Entity One to Offshore Entity Two.

Why so?

Because the Bankruptcy Trustee should have no power to overturn the 2^nd transfer of the asset.

So if you live in a country which has this model of Insolvency Law you will want to set up 2 Offshore Entities and transfer your at risk assets from you to Offshore Entity 1 and then from Offshore Entity 1 to Offshore Entity 2.

(and for maximum security the smart thing to do would be to set up the 2 Offshore Entities in different countries).

As always local laws can have an impact, so be sure to seek local legal/tax/financial advice before committing to set up an Offshore Company for such purposes.