How to set up a trust in Barbados

Before you start: what you decide

Settle the decisions below in your first call with your lawyer.

• Governing text. Counsel names the Act that governs a new deed, since the sources show more than one.
• Trustee. A trust company in Barbados holds office as trustee, and we coordinate the papers and reporting around it.
• Filing. Your lawyer confirms whether any filing applies to a new trust. Ask early, since the answer sets the order of the last steps.
• People and assets. Who is settlor, who the beneficiaries are, whether the deed creates a protector, and whether a holding company sits under the trust.
• Home position. Where you live and pay tax, since your advisers at home must agree first.

The Trusts (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018-49 and the Trustee Act, Cap. 250, are the starting point (source: Invest Barbados: Barbados Legislation).

The listing also shows an International Trusts Act, Cap. 245. Your lawyer confirms how it applies to your deed.

A 2018 Bill defines the trustee by reference to two named Acts, which points to a trust company based in Barbados (source: Parliament of Barbados: Trusts (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2018).

A trust is not the right tool for every goal. The first review can show that another arrangement fits you better, and that is a fair result.

Step by step: from enquiry to signed deed

Nothing is signed until your lawyer has read the deed and the trustee has agreed to act. The steps run in this order.

1. Enquiry. You tell us where you live, what you plan to hold and who the family members are.
2. Acceptance. Client acceptance on our side, then identity and source-of-funds review by the trust company.
3. Governing Act. Your Barbados lawyer confirms which Act governs the deed.
4. Structure. You and your lawyer agree the roles, any holding company and the powers you keep.
5. Drafting. The law firm drafts the deed and your letter of wishes; you and your tax adviser read the drafts.
6. Signing. You sign before a notary where you live, and the trustee accepts office.
7. Filing, if your lawyer advises one. It is made before any assets move.
8. Funding. Assets go to the trustee or to a company the trust owns.

Fund the trust only once any filing your lawyer advises is complete. In every case, wait until the bank accepts the source of funds. You can gather the papers while you wait.

Documents the trustee asks for

The trustee wants papers on every person and on the money. This is the usual first set, and it may grow once the trust company sees the structure.

• A certified copy of each party’s passport or national identity card, with proof of address dated within three months.
• A short account of how you built your wealth, with supporting papers.
• Evidence of the source of the particular funds or assets you will transfer.
• Names, dates of birth and relationships of the beneficiaries.
• A list of the assets, with ownership papers for any company shares or property.
• A short note from your Barbados lawyer naming the Act that governs the deed.
• A reference from your lawyer or bank, if the trustee requires one.

A document in another language may need a certified translation. Ask the trustee at the outset how much certification it accepts.

Identity and source-of-funds checks

The trust company cannot take office until it has finished its checks. They also protect you, because a trustee that skips them is not one to trust with assets.

Every review asks the same three things: who you are and who benefits, where the money came from, and why you want this structure. Round figures with no evidence, or loans nobody can trace, hold everything up.

We log what you send in a checklist with the open items flagged, and chase a missing bank letter from the first day.

Sanctions and politically exposed person screening happens here too. If a result needs a second look, we say so early and explain what the trustee still needs.

After the trust is set up

After funding, the trustee runs the trust under the deed: keeping accounts, calling meetings and writing down decisions.

If a holding company sits under the trust, its records stay with the trustee. Ask your lawyer which filings, if any, the trust or the company must make each year, since the answer depends on the structure.

Review the structure once a year, and again after a wedding, a new child or a business sale. Update your letter of wishes when life changes; it guides the trustee without binding it.

The law and features page covers the rules behind each step, and the cost breakdown shows what each one involves. For the wider view, read the Barbados overview.