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Legal Blog

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

The Curacao Trust

On 1 January 2012, new legislation entered into force according to which it is now possible to set up a trust (Curacao Trust) similar to the trust in Anglo-Saxon common law jurisdictions. The introduction of the Curacao Trust serves as an important instrument which could be used within financial transactions in the Caribbean as a significant part of these transactions are initiated from common law jurisdictions.

Read more Filed under: Finance by Maike Bergervoet.

 

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 8)

Finally, note that rather simple examples have been taken here. However, many suits are complicated with regard to their subject matter. In this connection disputes about complicated take-over issues, disputes between investors and an investment fund, disputes with a contractor or architect about a building or disputes about intellectual property come to mind. All these types of dispute require from advocates much more knowledge of and experience with litigation. It is not that each advocate must be an expert in all those areas but he should at least have experts in his team.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 7)

Apart from seizures it is also possible to consider an application for interim injunctive relief. The Judge for Interim Relief can render so-called provisional relief, for instance order a building freeze or order the counterparty to pay an advance on the compensation. Such a provision is called provisional because it is a measure in the interests of maintaining order to which the court dealing with the principal case is not bound. So it may well be the case that the provisional judgment of the Judge for Interim Relief differs fundamentally from the judgment of the court dealing with the merits of the case. Therefore there can be risks involved in the enforcement of an interim injunction order.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Thursday, May 09, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 6)

Sometimes cases which are strongly interrelated to each other are brought before different courts. For instance you instigate proceedings with the court in Curacao and your counterparty instigates proceedings at the same time against you before the court in Aruba or in Sint Maarten. If the merits of the case involve the same dispute it would hardly be efficient if litigation would take place before two different courts. In that case there would also be a risk that contradictory judgments would be delivered. The Code of Civil Procedure provides for an arrangement with regard to referral of a case from the one court to the other.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Europe Meets the Americas

Aruba Business Conference 2013. From May 5th till May 8th 2013 the trade mission “Europe meets the Americas” was held on Aruba. The conference offered the unique opportunity to connect face-to-face with potential partners from Latin America, the Caribbean region, Europe all present in one place. The three-day program provided valuable information on both the opportunities as well as cultural practices within the different continents and regions, presented by prominent international speakers. Spigt Dutch Caribbean was one of the sponsors of this conference.

Read more Filed under: Commercial by Karel Frielink.

 

Monday, May 06, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 5)

It can of course happen that it is not a plaintiff but the defendant or a third party who has the documents by which the plaintiff can prove the existence and extent of his claim. There is a separate procedure by which such documents can be demanded. This procedure, better known as the duty to submit exhibits of Section 843a of the Code of Civil Procedure requires several conditions which must be satisfied before the court can allow that claim.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Thursday, May 02, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 4)

As the defending party you have to put up a defense (Statement of Defense) and in this regard this statement should not only be clear and complete but you should also know for instance what formal defenses you should advance. With regard to the latter for instance the plea of limitation of action comes to mind. In many cases the period of limitation of action is five years but sometimes it is a much shorter period. The short period of limitation of six months applies to the annulment of a resolution of a legal entity registered in Curacao. 

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Monday, April 29, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 3)

It often happens that for instance the court in Curacao has jurisdiction to hear a case but the claim is governed by the law of another country. In that case the court must be informed of the contents of that foreign law by the parties. Obviously, before you institute these proceedings you must have examined whether your claim has any chance of success. And you have to consider the question of what you will do if the claim is awarded by the court in Curacao but you have to go abroad for enforcement of that judgment. Sometimes you can then use an international enforcement convention but sometimes you have to conduct the case again abroad (in an abbreviated form). 

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Relevante wijzigingen omzetbelasting en logeergastenbelasting voor de hospitality sector op Curaçao

In deze news alert worden de belangrijkste wijzigingen voor de hospitality sector op Curaçao beschreven per 1 mei a.s. in de omzetbelasting. Daarnaast zal de logeergastenbelasting per 1 januari 2014 worden vervangen door omzetbelasting. Tevens aandacht voor de verleggingsregeling die per 1 januari 2012 al geldt op Curaçao. 

Read more Filed under: Tax by Jeroen Starreveld.

 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 2)

In order to answer the question of which court you should bring your action before, the type of claim can also be important. In Curacao you must bring your claim for collection of a sum of money or a dispute involving a take-over contract before the Court of First Instance. But if you start inquiry proceedings you should go to the Joint Court of Appeal. And if as a civilian you want inquiry proceedings to be brought against a State-owned company, the petition to this end must be submitted to the Public Prosecutions Department (Openbaar Ministerie). The Public Prosecutions Department then has to investigate whether there are sufficient reasons to submit a petition for inquiry proceedings to the court of Appeal.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Banking regulation in Curacao

Karel Frielink, Maike Bergervoet and Davina Mansur of Spigt Dutch Caribbean contributed to this years edition of "Banking Regulation in 28 jurisdictions worldwide" (2013).

Read more Filed under: Finance by Karel Frielink.

 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Procederen is een vak apart

Alles draait om kennis en ervaring. Procederen lijkt eenvoudig. Je hebt bijvoorbeeld een geldvordering op iemand (een particulier of een onderneming) en je vraagt de rechter om in een vonnis te bepalen dat je die vordering inderdaad hebt. En je vraagt de rechter om die tegenpartij tot betaling te veroordelen. En heb je dat vonnis eenmaal, dan kun je met behulp van een deurwaarder overgaan tot executie. Dat betekent dan het leggen van beslag op bijvoorbeeld een handelsvoorraad en het in het openbaar veilen daarvan. Simpel toch? Waarom is procederen dan toch een vak, waarvoor je bij voorkeur een professional moet inschakelen? Aan de hand van het burgerlijk procesrecht van Curacao zal ik kort enkele onderwerpen bespreken die laten zien welke problemen je zoal kunt tegenkomen.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Litigation is a skilled profession (part 1)

Everything boils down to knowledge and experience. Litigation appears to be simple. For instance you have a monetary claim on someone (a private person or an enterprise) and you ask the court to determine in a judgment that you indeed have this claim. And you ask the court that the counterparty be ordered to pay the claim. And once you have this judgment, you can enforce it with the assistance of a bailiff. This means for instance seizing a trade stock and selling it publicly in an auction. Simple, yes? Why then is litigation a discipline for which you should preferably engage a professional? On the basis of the Curacao civil law of procedure I will discuss briefly several subjects demonstrating the problems you might be faced with.

Read more Filed under: Dispute Resolution by Karel Frielink.

 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Cross border conversion and merger (part 10)

Legal entities under supervision. So far we have only looked at legal entities not under the supervision of the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS). Just a few words about institutions that are under supervision.

Read more Filed under: Corporate by Karel Frielink.

 

Friday, April 05, 2013

Cross border conversion and merger (part 9)

The cross-border merger. Before 1 January 2012 the possibility already existed in Curacao that in connection with a merger, a foreign legal entity as the disappearing legal entity could merge with a comparable legal form of Book 2 of the Civil Code on the condition that the law governing that foreign legal entity was not incompatible with the merger and the manner in which it was brought about (Section 2:323a of the Civil Code). This inbound merger possibility still exists.

Read more Filed under: Corporate by Karel Frielink.