Many people wonder what are offshore trust companies as they see them advertised all over the Internet and the words flow from the tongues of offshore service providers.  In all reality an offshore trust is an entity which is used to hold and protect one’s tangible and non-tangible assets.  A trust is often times the key to implementing bullet proof asset protection strategies which provide the end user with an ultimate level of protection.  Many people think trusts are used when an individual or company wishes to establish a set disbursement of assets upon death.  This is true but in all reality a trust can do much more.  For example, this type of structuring can be used in order to distribute earnings of investments as well as physical and non physical holdings of a company once a certain goal has been met.  Other uses include protecting assets from creditors as well as establishing payouts on certain long term investments.  Since a trust is relatively flexible it can be used to hold the shares of both onshore and offshore companies which will then remove assets from the reach of creditors and government agencies.  In some instances a trust can even be registered; such as in Belize; and a bank account can be opened directly for the trust.  Offshore trust services should include the basics such as a preliminary interview or questionnaire for the client(s) to complete in order to better understand the needs of the client as well as specific wording needed in order to properly establish the trust based on the clients particular needs.  If a company offers a standard trust document with little to no variations then most likely the end result will not be as effective in the long run.  A provider should be able to easily incorporate the shares of onshore as well as offshore companies into the trust with ease allowing the trust to be altered from time to time as assets grow and change.