Bermuda trust questions, answered

A Bermuda trustee is the legal owner of the trust assets and administers them according to the deed. That includes keeping accounts and records, deciding on distributions and signing papers that move assets. Be wary of a trustee that merely countersigns the settlor's instructions, since the deed has to be followed in practice.

The process does not change with your country of residence. What counts is whether the structure fits your home country and tax position. Your own lawyer confirms this before you sign, and we keep your advisers in Bermuda and at home on the same drafts.

A will only takes effect on death and then goes through probate. A trust begins once you sign it and put assets in, and the trustee holds them during your life and after it. Because they do different jobs, a trust does not replace a will, and plenty of people have both.

You need a Bermuda lawyer to review the deed, your own lawyer and tax adviser at home, and a bank or custodian to hold the assets. A trustee company set up by the family adds directors and a corporate services provider. A protector is optional and exists only if the deed creates the role.

No. A company is a legal person of its own, whereas a trust is an arrangement under which a trustee holds assets for beneficiaries. The two often work together, for instance when a trust owns a company, and your lawyer explains which part of the plan sits where.

Prepare identity documents, proof of address, evidence of where your funds and wealth came from, and a list of assets to transfer. A company entering the trust adds its certificate of incorporation and registers. The source-of-funds evidence is normally the slowest to gather, so begin with it.

Counsel and the trustee agree how the deed is signed and how meetings are held, and some steps may be done at a distance with certified copies. Bermuda follows Atlantic time with daylight saving, so call times are fixed early. Mention any travel limits in your first message so the plan fits them.

Not always. Many families hold a business through a company and put the company shares in the trust, while others hold only an investment account. A Bermuda company needs a corporate services provider with its own yearly terms. Your lawyer advises whether a company suits your assets and your home country.

The trustee decides under the deed. You may be able to guide it through a letter of wishes, which does not bind the trustee. A protector, where the deed creates one, can be given the power to consent to key decisions. Where the family runs its own trustee company, its directors take the trustee's decisions.

Let the trustee know straight away. A marriage, a birth, a relocation or the sale of a business may mean revising your letter of wishes or the deed. Set a review for each year, and call another one whenever something significant changes.

A well-drafted deed explains how a trustee can be removed or replaced and who takes that decision. Settling this at the outset avoids a dispute later. Your lawyer writes the clause, and a replacement trustee runs its own checks before it accepts the role.

Whether the trustee or a bank files under the Common Reporting Standard for your trust is a point your lawyer confirms for your case. At the start, banks often request self-certification forms for the trust. What you file yourself is a question for your tax adviser.

It can. Your country of residence decides how you are taxed as settlor or beneficiary, and it may require a declaration of the trust. Your tax adviser sets out the filings. Pass on the draft deed and asset list, and tell us where you live so we can plan the papers.

Go to a tax adviser who knows your home country and provide the draft deed and the structure chart. We offer no tax advice and promise no tax result. Your adviser gets the same drafts we send you, which keeps everyone reading the same papers.

Write with your country of residence, the assets you expect to transfer, whether a family trustee company interests you and what the trust should do. We reply with what we need next and whether we can take the case. The quote request page asks for the same information.

No. We coordinate the checks, the papers and the contact between the trustee and your advisers. Legal advice is for your Bermuda lawyer or your own, and tax advice for your tax adviser. Each of them receives the drafts we send you, so there is one set of papers.

We say so early on. A first review might show that Cayman, the BVI, Hong Kong or another place meets your aim better than Bermuda, or that you need no trust. The jurisdictions hub covers each place we handle with the same kind of sourced facts, for easy comparison.