Foundation Administration and Council Mandates in Liechtenstein

LFT prepares documents, collects data, reminds the council of deadlines and coordinates the parties. A licensed Liechtenstein trustee, lawyer or asset manager, named in your engagement letter, performs each reserved act. LFT is never the foundation council, the audit body or the person who confirms a change notice. Questions of law go to a licensed Liechtenstein lawyer.

Pricing for LFT and the licensed partner is given on request and is not printed here. The official fees are fixed: CHF 300 to deposit a formation notice and CHF 15 per official confirmation (GbHr-GebV Annex 2). STIFTA charges CHF 200 to 1,000 per audit-report evaluation, depending on effort (StRV Art. 13(1)(a)).

The council has at least two members, and at least one member who manages and represents the foundation must meet PGR Art. 180a(1): an EEA national, or equal, who holds the required licence. A supervised foundation has no Art. 180a(3) exemption. Whether a particular founder can take a seat is for a licensed lawyer or trustee to confirm.

PGR Art. 180a(1) requires at least one council member with power to manage and represent to be an EEA national, or equal, who holds the required licence. Taking such a mandate for third parties is a reserved trustee activity under TrHG Art. 2(b), so a licensed trustee or Art. 180a licence holder takes the seat.

At least two members, and legal persons may be members (PGR Art. 552 § 24(2)). Unless the foundation deed says otherwise, an appointment lasts three years and reappointment is allowed (§ 24(3)). The deed can set a different term, and the founder decides the composition of the council when the foundation is set up.

It manages the foundation and represents it (PGR Art. 552 § 24(1)). It administers the assets with regard to the founder's will and under the principles of good management (§ 25(1)). It may make distributions to beneficiaries only if the claims of the foundation's creditors are not reduced by them (§ 37(2)).

Charitable foundations are supervised. A private-benefit foundation is supervised where its deed says so (PGR Art. 552 § 29(1)), and it may place itself under STIFTA supervision voluntarily. STIFTA acts ex officio to see that the assets are managed and used for their purposes, and any person involved may ask the court for measures.

For a foundation under STIFTA supervision the court appoints an audit body (PGR Art. 552 § 27(1)). On application STIFTA may exempt a charitable foundation, for example one that manages little assets (§ 27(5); StRV Art. 5). A beneficiary cannot be the audit body, and the role is a trustee activity (TrHG Art. 2(e)), never LFT's.

A foundation without a registration duty deposits a formation notice within 30 days of formation. The council notifies every change to a fact in the formation notice, and any ground for dissolution under § 39(1), within 30 days (PGR Art. 552 § 20(1), (3)). A Liechtenstein lawyer, trustee or Art. 180a licence holder confirms the change notice in writing.

The beneficiary rights of PGR Art. 552 § 9 do not exist when the foundation is under STIFTA supervision (§ 12). Whether a particular beneficiary has a claim against an unsupervised foundation is a question of law. That assessment is reserved to lawyers (RAG Art. 8), so we refer it to a licensed Liechtenstein lawyer.

There is no statutory protector in the foundation law. The founder may set up further organs in the deed, and they have no power of representation (PGR Art. 552 § 28(1)). The UBO act records protectors, or persons in similar functions, beside founders and settlors (VwbPG Art. 2(1)(h)); that creates no statutory office.

Changes are reported within 30 days of knowledge (VwbPG Art. 4(5)). Since the cyberattack of 30 July 2026 the Office of Justice keeps deadlines that cannot be met suspended. It named 5 October 2026 for operations to resume for external users, with personal identification first. Its newsletter gives no end date for the suspension.

The council passes a dissolution resolution once a ground arises, unanimous unless the deed says otherwise (PGR Art. 552 § 39(2), (3)). A ground for dissolution triggers a change notice to the Office of Justice within 30 days (§ 20(3)). A supervised foundation informs STIFTA of the resolution and the termination (§ 39(3), § 40(4)). A licensed trustee acts.

A foundation without a commercial business keeps records and vouchers from which the course of business and the development of the assets can be traced, and an asset statement showing the state and investment of the assets (PGR Art. 552 § 26). Art. 1059 applies by analogy: books, vouchers and correspondence are kept for ten years.