Structure Selector
Most guidance is organised by vehicle, which only helps if you already know the vocabulary. This is organised by objective. Tell us what you are trying to achieve and we will tell you what answers it, why, and what running it involves.
Pick the objective closest to your situation.
The full mapping, in one place. Every objective below links to a guide covering the requirements, the timeline, the ongoing obligations and the mistakes that come with it.
| Objective | Structure | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Pass wealth to the next generation intact | A foundation, holding one or more holding vehicles | Read |
| Protect assets from a risk | Depends on the threat: separation, or a change of ownership | Read |
| Set up a joint venture with a partner | A company or SPV with shares, held by the partners | Read |
| Build a vehicle to invest through | Depends on whose money it is | Read |
| Hold intellectual property safely | A holding vehicle owning the IP, licensing it to the business | Read |
| Structure a family business for continuity | Three layers: operating company, holding layer, foundation | Read |
| Hold Dubai real estate | A DIFC Foundation, usually over a Prescribed Company | Read |
| Hold international investments and assets | A DIFC Prescribed Company or an ADGM SPV | Read |
| Consolidate and govern family wealth | A foundation, with holding vehicles beneath it | Read |
A foundation, holding one or more holding vehicles
Shares are what breaks a succession. They fragment across heirs, freeze in probate and can be claimed in a divorce or a creditor action. A foundation has no shares, so there is nothing to divide or claim against.
Jurisdiction: Either centre. ADGM if the family's documentation and advisers are English-law based; DIFC if the assets, banking and advisers are Dubai-centred.
Full guideDepends on the threat: separation, or a change of ownership
There is no single asset protection vehicle. Against commercial risk you need separation. Against a personal claim you need the assets not to be yours at all. And in both cases timing decides whether it works.
Jurisdiction: Either centre. The threat and the timing matter far more than the postcode.
Full guideA company or SPV with shares, held by the partners
A joint venture needs something each partner can hold, value, transfer and exit with. That rules out a foundation entirely, which has no shareholders at all. The vehicle is the easy part; the shareholders' agreement decides whether it survives.
Jurisdiction: ADGM where the documentation is English-law drafted, which is most JVs. DIFC where the partners or the venture's assets are already there.
Full guideDepends on whose money it is
The decisive question is not size or strategy. It is whether you are investing your own capital or managing other people's. Discovering that line after incorporating is expensive, because the fix is a new structure rather than an amendment.
Jurisdiction: Either centre offers both routes. The manager's location, the investors and the banking usually decide.
Full guideA holding vehicle owning the IP, licensing it to the business
For many businesses the IP is the one asset they cannot afford to lose, and inside the trading company it is exposed to every claim. Separating ownership from use protects it while leaving the business free to operate.
Jurisdiction: ADGM where the licence documentation is English-law drafted; otherwise either.
Full guideThree layers: operating company, holding layer, foundation
A family business has to keep trading, keep valuable assets away from trading risk, and pass to the next generation. Those are three different jobs and one company cannot do all three.
Jurisdiction: Either centre. The governance design matters considerably more than the choice between them.
Full guideA DIFC Foundation, usually over a Prescribed Company
Dubai property held through DIFC structures is a well-trodden route with established registry practice. The foundation adds succession; the Prescribed Company beneath it contains the asset.
Jurisdiction: DIFC. Recognition of the holding vehicle by the relevant land authority is the practical constraint, and DIFC practice here is settled.
Full guideA DIFC Prescribed Company or an ADGM SPV
A light common law vehicle holding shares, portfolios and single assets, with full foreign ownership and minimal ongoing footprint. The choice between the two centres follows your documentation and banking.
Jurisdiction: ADGM if your structures and advisers are English-law based; DIFC if your assets, group or banking are Dubai-centred.
Full guideA foundation, with holding vehicles beneath it
Consolidation without governance just moves the problem. A foundation provides the decision-making framework, and the vehicles beneath it keep each class of asset separable.
Jurisdiction: DIFC where the family wants the wealth ecosystem and Dubai relationships; ADGM where the documentation is English-law based.
Full guideIt does not replace advice, and it would be dishonest to present it as though it did. Your tax residence, your existing documents, where your assets are registered and which banks will deal with you all change the detail, sometimes decisively.
What it should do is narrow the field and explain the reasoning, so that the conversation you have next starts from the right place. The most expensive structuring mistakes we see are not wrong vehicles chosen carefully; they are vehicles chosen before anyone asked what the structure was for.
If more than one objective applies to you, that is normal and it is why real structures have layers. A family business needing continuity, protection and succession ends up with three, each doing one job.
Start with the objective rather than the vehicle. If the goal is passing wealth across a generation without fragmenting control, a foundation is usually the answer because it has no shares. If the goal is holding an asset away from trading risk, a Prescribed Company or SPV is the lighter and cheaper answer. If the goal needs flexibility, employees or outside investors, a standard company is the honest answer. Most substantial structures use more than one, layered.
No. It narrows the field and explains the reasoning, which is what most people are missing when they start. The specifics of your assets, your tax residence, your existing documents and your banking will change the detail, and those need a conversation. What it should do is stop you incorporating the wrong vehicle before that conversation happens.
For most objectives, either works and the difference is smaller than comparison content suggests. Four things decide real cases: whether your documentation is English-law drafted (favours ADGM), where the assets sit (Dubai assets favour DIFC), where your wider group already operates, and which banks will realistically open the account. Banking settles more cases than anything else.
That is the normal case, and it is why real structures have layers rather than a single vehicle. A family business needing succession, asset protection and continuity ends up with an operating company, a holding layer and a foundation, each doing one job. If you find yourself trying to make one vehicle serve two objectives, that is usually the signal you need two vehicles.
A registered office in the relevant centre, statutory registers kept current, annual filings, and corporate tax registration with the Federal Tax Authority, which applies even to passive holding vehicles that never trade. For most privately held vehicles a licensed service provider is required rather than optional, and it is the component that determines whether the structure is still in good standing years later.
That is the right way round. Tell us what the structure needs to achieve and what it will hold, and we will tell you which vehicle answers it, in which centre, and what running it involves.