ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Juan McEwan and Agustín Lacoste, McEWAN
corporate professional fiduciary), which usually gifts the bare ownership of the shares in the company to their descendants – thereby keeping lifetime usufruct over those shares. 6.2 Fiduciary Liabilities Fiduciaries’ protection from liabilities is attained through exoneration/exculpatory clauses and by del - egating power of investment to third-party profession - als (investment advisers). 6.3 Fiduciary Regulation In Argentina, trusts were originally regulated by Title I of the Housing and Construction Financing Law No 24,441 (the “Trusts Law”), which contemplated two types of trusts: • financial trusts ( fideicomiso financiero ), under which the trustee must be a financial entity or a corporation specifically authorised by the Argentine Securities Commission to act as financial trustee; and • ordinary trusts ( fideicomiso ordinario ), which can be: (a) management trusts ( fideicomisos de adminis - tración ); or (b) guarantee trusts ( fideicomisos de garantía ). However, the CCCN has since amended the Trusts Law. The regulation of trusts is now set out in Chapter 30 of the CCCN (local trusts), which incorporates sug - gestions from legal scholars and case law with regard to certain issues of interpretation and the application of trust law. 6.4 Fiduciary Investment There are no specific provisions related to fiduciary investments in Argentina. 7. Citizenship and Residency 7.1 Requirements for Domicile, Residency and Citizenship Unlike in many other countries, obtaining citizenship in Argentina is relatively straightforward. The first step is to obtain a visa, which will allow a person to live in the country for one year on a temporary residence permit.
When the year has expired, the visa can be extended for an additional year. At the end of the second year, the visa can be extended again for another year. At the end of the third year, the person can extend the visa again and receive permanent residency. At this point, they will be legally entitled to reside in Argen - tina permanently. Two years after receiving permanent residency, they may apply for citizenship. The children of an Argentine father or mother (regard - less of whether native or by choice) who were born abroad also have the right to acquire Argentine nation - ality, regardless of their age, even when the Argentine father or mother has passed away. Those who cannot apply for Argentine nationality are family members of Argentine citizens (such as the spouse, grandchildren or siblings), despite some of them having the right to reside in Argentina. It is not a requirement to give up (renounce) another nationality to acquire Argentine nationality by choice. However, whether the person can retain their original nationality will be a matter for the foreign country in question.
7.2 Expeditious Citizenship This is not applicable in Argentina.
8. Planning for Minors, Adults with Disabilities and Elders 8.1 Special Planning Mechanisms The Trusts Law does not include any specific provi - sions regarding a special needs trust. However, if the beneficiary is a natural person without legal capacity, the maximum duration period for local trusts – ie, 30 years from the date on which it was created – would not apply. In such cases, the trust will last until the beneficiary’s death or until termination of their inca - pacity. 8.2 Appointment of a Guardian In general terms, minors are represented by the sur - viving parent. If there is no surviving parent, the court designates a legal representative to handle all the assets on the minor’s behalf. Likewise, the disposi - tion of assets usually requires court approval. A minor
25
CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook