Jersey LLPs: a new dawn as investment and property holding vehicles

A recent amendment to the Limited Liability Partnership (Jersey) Law 1997 (the "Law") could see Jersey Limited Liability Partnerships (Jersey LLPs) gain popularity as investment or real estate holding vehicles.

Although the Law has been in force for nearly 15 years, no Jersey LLPs have ever been established. The principal reason for this is that, until January 2013, the Law required Jersey LLPs to maintain creditor protection in the form of a £5m bond which would pay out if the Jersey LLP became insolvent. The cost of such protection made the Jersey LLP a prohibitively expensive vehicle.

In January 2013 an amendment to the Law came into effect, removing the requirement for Jersey LLPs to maintain a £5m bond and replacing it with the simple rule that no partner or former partner of a Jersey LLP should be allowed to withdraw any property of the Jersey LLP unless that Jersey LLP has made a solvency statement within the previous 12 months. The solvency statement is made in the form specified by the Law, and looks forward 12 months, confirming the Jersey LLP's anticipated solvency over that period.