🇰🇾 · Funds · Trusts
Cayman Islands
Funds, SPVs & exempted companies in the dominant domicile for offshore investment funds and cross-border special-purpose vehicles, with STAR trusts and foundation companies.
Open the overview →Global Reach · Region
Caribbean & Atlantic
Eleven common-law and civil-law jurisdictions that carry the holding layers, funds, trusts, captives, and foundations behind cross-border deals, coordinated through a facilitation and partner network alongside locally admitted counsel. Hart David Carson maintains no office in these jurisdictions; local legal advice and statutory filings are rendered by local professionals.
A great deal of the world's cross-border structuring is actually built in the Caribbean & Atlantic, on tax-neutral, creditor-tested, common-law platforms where funds are launched, holding companies are stacked, risk is reinsured, and family wealth is held across generations.
Firm facts · ReachA corporate and private-capital boutique with international reach: a principal office in Chicago, a second office in Oakbrook Terrace, offices in London and Dubai through partner firms, meeting locations by appointment in seven further US cities, and a partner network across ~51 jurisdictions on five continents. Founded 2013.
For an international transaction, the choice of jurisdiction is rarely cosmetic. Cayman and the British Virgin Islands dominate fund and SPV formation, and Bermuda anchors insurance, reinsurance, and listed holding vehicles. The Bahamas, Nevis, and Belize bring deep fiduciary and asset-protection practice, Barbados and Curaçao add genuine treaty access, and Panama contributes a dollarized economy, foundations, and one of the world's largest ship registries. Each rests on English common law, or in Curaçao and Panama on a civil-law tradition, with credible courts and mature professional infrastructure, and increasingly with transparency, economic-substance, and beneficial-ownership regimes aligned to OECD and EU expectations.
Hart David Carson's role across the region is coordination rather than local practice. We scope the structure and assemble the licensed providers the matter needs, from registered offices and fiduciaries to fund administrators, banks, and registry agents, then project-manage the matter from first instruction to closing, working alongside locally admitted counsel who render all formal advice, legal opinions, and filings. Where a matter touches a regulator, it proceeds in matters before that regulator through local professionals, and we do not speak for the agencies. We make no guarantee of any particular regulatory, tax, or banking outcome.
The Jurisdictions
Eleven jurisdictions across the Caribbean & Atlantic, each opening a full overview of the vehicles, regulators, and facilitation network we coordinate there.
🇻🇬 · Holding · SPVs
British Virgin Islands
Business companies & holding vehicles from the world's most widely used jurisdiction for holding and special-purpose vehicles, with VISTA trusts and a flexible companies statute.
Open the overview →🇧🇲 · Insurance · Reinsurance
Bermuda
Insurance, captives & listings in the principal offshore domicile for insurance and reinsurance, with Solvency II equivalence, segregated accounts companies, and listed holding vehicles.
Open the overview →🇧🇸 · Private Wealth · Funds
Bahamas
Private wealth & fund structures in a long-established private-banking and fiduciary center with foundations, executive entities, and SMART funds, close to the United States.
Open the overview →🇹🇨 · Holding · Real Estate
Turks & Caicos
Holding companies & real estate on a tax-neutral, US-dollar, British Overseas Territory platform commonly paired with Caribbean real-estate ownership.
Open the overview →🇦🇮 · IBCs · LLCs
Anguilla
IBCs, LLCs & foundations through a low-cost, fully electronic incorporation platform (ACORN) that supports same-day formation of international companies, LLCs, and foundations.
Open the overview →🇧🇧 · Treaty · Substance
Barbados
Treaty access & economic substance on a substance-based, treaty-network platform for Canadian and Latin American inbound and outbound structuring. Barbados is a treaty jurisdiction rather than a zero-tax haven.
Open the overview →🇧🇿 · IBCs · Trusts
Belize
International companies & trusts on an English-speaking common-law platform for international companies and asset-protection trusts, now operating under a reformed, compliant framework.
Open the overview →🇰🇳 · Asset Protection · LLCs
Nevis
Asset-protection trusts & LLCs under legislation that sets high evidentiary hurdles for foreign creditors, frequently layered as a Nevis trust with a Nevis LLC.
Open the overview →🇨🇼 · Treaty · Licensing
Curaçao
Treaty network & licensing in a Dutch civil-law bridge jurisdiction with NV/BV companies, the SPF private foundation, and arrangements within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Open the overview →🇵🇦 · Foundations · Shipping
Panama
Foundations, shipping & holding in a dollarized, territorial-tax jurisdiction with private-interest foundations, corporations, and one of the world's largest open ship registries.
Open the overview →What we coordinate across Caribbean & Atlantic
One partner is accountable for the whole matter and coordinates the licensed providers and locally admitted counsel who deliver the work on the ground.
01
Company & entity formation
Exempted companies, business companies, LLCs, SPCs, partnerships, and foundations, scoped to the deal and then formed through licensed registered offices and resident agents with local counsel.
02
Trusts & foundations
STAR and VISTA trusts, asset-protection and purpose trusts, SPFs, and private-interest foundations, assembled with licensed fiduciaries and admitted counsel and calibrated to legitimate, solvent objectives.
03
Funds & investment vehicles
Open- and closed-ended funds, master-feeder and parallel structures, and emerging-manager vehicles, coordinated with fund administrators and counsel for registration before the relevant regulator.
04
Insurance & captives
Captive, reinsurance, and ILS structuring, chiefly through Bermuda, introducing insurance managers and corporate-services providers, with licensing handled by locally admitted professionals.
05
Banking & account introductions
Introductions to onshore correspondent, regional and private banks, with the ownership charts, source-of-funds documentation and substance that materially improve onboarding outcomes.
06
Regulatory, substance & tax posture
Economic-substance, beneficial-ownership, AML/CFT, CRS and FATCA, VASP, and treaty-residency questions, mapped early and addressed through admitted counsel and tax advisers, with no outcome guaranteed.
Hart David Carson acts as coordinator. All local legal advice, opinions and statutory filings are rendered by locally admitted counsel and licensed providers. Back to Global Reach →
Caribbean & Atlantic coordination FAQ
A few of the questions clients ask first about the offshore network.
Which jurisdictions does Hart David Carson coordinate in the Caribbean & Atlantic?
Hart David Carson LLP coordinates matters across eleven Caribbean and Atlantic jurisdictions: the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, Nevis, Curaçao, and Panama. These common-law and civil-law jurisdictions carry the holding layers, funds, trusts, captives, and foundations behind cross-border deals.
How does the partner-network model work for cross-border deals in the Caribbean & Atlantic?
Hart David Carson LLP maintains no office in these jurisdictions and instead coordinates a facilitation and partner network alongside locally admitted counsel, who render all local legal advice and statutory filings. One partner stays accountable for the whole matter, so the offshore holding, fund, and trust layers are assembled and held to one standard.
Why are the Cayman Islands and BVI used for funds and holding structures?
The Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands are the domiciles most used for investment funds and holding vehicles, prized for tax neutrality, flexible company law, and established service-provider infrastructure. Hart David Carson LLP coordinates these structures alongside locally admitted counsel and the licensed administrators who service them.
Can Hart David Carson coordinate trusts and asset protection in the region?
Yes. Hart David Carson LLP coordinates asset-protection trusts and foundations through jurisdictions such as Nevis, Belize, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, working with the licensed trustees and locally admitted counsel who establish and administer them. The structures are aligned with the wider cross-border plan rather than treated in isolation.
Who delivers the legal advice in each Caribbean & Atlantic jurisdiction?
Coordination is performed by Hart David Carson LLP, while local legal advice and statutory filings are rendered by local professionals and locally admitted counsel in each jurisdiction. The firm maintains no office in these jurisdictions and never holds itself out as admitted to practice their local law.
How do I start a Caribbean or Atlantic matter with Hart David Carson LLP?
Speak to a partner at Hart David Carson LLP and the firm assembles the right offshore team across the relevant jurisdictions while you keep one line back to the firm. Describe the matter and you are connected to the partner who stays accountable for it across the region.
Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice