Asset protection is a market full of promises and short on proof. You cannot tell a serious provider by their website — only by their answers to ten uncomfortable questions. Ask them in every first consultation, including ours. As of July 2026 the standard is clear: serious wealth protection is prospective, transparent, and declared.
The 10 questions
1. Do they tell you what does NOT work?
The most important litmus test. A serious provider names the limits unprompted: existing creditors cannot be shaken off, home-country tax obligations remain, and enforcement friction is no shield against legitimate claims. Someone who only lists possibilities is selling — someone who draws limits is advising.
2. Do they require proof of source of funds?
Anyone willing to structure your money without asking where it came from either has no compliance system or a business model that cannot survive one. Banks will ask the question anyway — a provider who documents KYC and source of funds up front spares you a failed onboarding.
3. Do they address CRS openly?
Georgia has exchanged account data automatically since 2024; CRS 2.0 broadens the standard from 2026. A serious provider explains this unasked and builds the structure on top of it — not around it. Anyone promising “CRS-free” or “invisible accounts” is the red flag par excellence.
4. Do they warn you about clawback periods?
Creditors and insolvency administrators can challenge asset transfers for years if they were made during a crisis or to creditors’ detriment. Serious advice therefore starts by asking about existing risks and only plans prospectively — long before any claim appears on the horizon.
5. Do they offer nominees or front men?
Nominee directors, trustees “on paper only”, accounts in other people’s names: red flag, end the conversation. Such setups collapse at the latest when the bank asks for the beneficial owner — and they pull you into liability and criminal exposure larger than the problem you started with.
6. Do they quote fixed prices?
Opaque fees are a warning sign in structuring work: what cannot be quoted is usually not standardized or thought through. A serious provider quotes fixed prices for defined deliverables and discloses which third-party costs (notary, authorities, banks) come on top.
7. Do they have real substance on the ground?
A provider without their own team in the target jurisdiction is selling referrals. Ask about the office, the staff, and registry evidence on the ground — anyone offering Georgian structures must be reachable in Georgia, work with the local authorities and banks, and be able to accompany you in person when it matters.
8. Do they refer you to your home-country tax advisor?
Protecting assets abroad changes nothing about exit taxation, declaration duties, and reporting obligations at home. A serious provider actively requires coordination with your tax advisor in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland — anyone calling that unnecessary is planning around your legal obligations.
9. Do they document their advice?
Verbal assurances protect no one. Insist on written structure memos, documented assumptions, and traceable recommendations — it disciplines the provider and gives your tax advisor, and if necessary a court, the basis to assess the arrangement.
10. Do they turn down engagements?
Ask when the provider last declined a mandate. Someone who takes everyone — acute creditor crises, unclear source of funds, concealment wishes — will not protect your mandate either when things get critical. Declined mandates are the one quality signal that cannot be faked.
Our answers to the 10 questions
We hold ourselves to the same standard — in short form:
- What does not work opens every first consultation — with the limits in writing
- Proof of source of funds is a condition of acceptance, not a formality
- CRS and reporting duties are part of every structure memo — no "CRS-free" promises
- Clawback risks are checked before structuring; we only work prospectively
- No front men, no nominees, no accounts in other people's names
- Fixed prices per price list, third-party costs disclosed
- Our own team in Georgia — formation, banking, and authority visits from one hand
- Coordination with your home-country tax advisor is part of the process
- Every recommendation is documented in writing
- We decline mandates — always in acute creditor crises and concealment requests
What a legal protection structure with Georgia looks like in practice: Asset protection in Georgia and Bank account in Georgia.
The legal framing in detail click to expand
Serious wealth protection uses three legal layers: jurisdictional diversification (Georgia is not an EU member — automatic EU enforcement under the European Enforcement Order does not apply, and foreign judgments require a recognition procedure), legal tax exemption of certain foreign income under Georgian residency, and a stable banking sector with multi-currency accounts. What it does not include: hiding assets, nominee setups, or ignoring declaration duties. If you are taxable in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, you declare foreign accounts and income there — the protective effect comes from the structure, not from opacity. We check transfers against clawback rules; where a crisis already exists, we refer to restructuring counsel instead of structuring.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. If you remain taxable in your home country, you must declare foreign income and accounts there — always involve a tax advisor and, where needed, a lawyer in your home jurisdiction before building protection structures. Last updated July 2026; rules may change.