Setting up a trust in Cyprus: steps and documents

Before you start: what you decide

Before opening a trust under the International Trusts Law, decide five things with your lawyer. A direction on each point is enough on day one; final answers can wait.

• Who benefits. The deed names the beneficiaries or describes them as a class. Whether residence conditions still apply to them after the 2012 amendment is something your lawyer confirms.
• What goes in. Cash, listed securities, private-company shares and property held through a company each need their own papers.
• Holding company, or none. If a company sits under the trust, the trustee holds its shares, and daily dealings run through the company.
• Who holds which role. Besides the trustee, the deed can create a protector and name who may advise on investments.
• What you keep. Your lawyer explains how much control you can keep without weakening the trust.

From your answers we draft a brief for the lawyer and the trustee, so fewer drafting rounds are needed.

The law page sets out the rules of the Law behind each point, with sources.

Step by step: from enquiry to signed deed

The deed is signed only after your lawyer has reviewed it, and assets are funded only once the trustee has accepted office.

Basis: our service process, 2026-11-05. The trustee is a Cyprus firm or individual that meets the residence conditions of the International Trusts Law (accessed 2026-11-05).

A Cyprus law firm drafts the deed, and your own lawyer reviews it. We keep both sides working from the same checklist.

After funding, the overview shows who does what while the trust runs.

Documents the trustee asks for

The trustee accepts office only once it holds a full file on you and on every person with a role; we collect it in a single pass so you are not asked twice.

The settlor sends:

• A certified passport copy, in the form the trustee directs.
• A recent proof of address, issued within the last few months.
• Your tax identification number and your country of tax residence.
• A short account of how your wealth arose, with papers to back it.

Beneficiaries, protectors and company directors give identity papers, an address and their role in the deed.

For the assets, expect to send statements, share registers or sale contracts. For property, title deeds and valuations show what is moving and that it is yours to move.

Expect self-certification forms for tax reporting on the trust and on any company it owns. Documents in Greek may need a translation into English.

Identity and source-of-funds checks

The slowest part is usually these checks, because each transfer needs evidence.

We review each transfer you plan and ask for evidence of where the money came from. Payslips and tax returns evidence savings. A sale agreement evidences a business you sold, and accounts evidence a company you still own.

Bigger or more complex transfers draw more questions under our risk policy. If something cannot be evidenced, we say so early rather than after drafting has started.

Next come the trustee’s checks. Some questions repeat ours, and we reply from the existing file wherever we can, which keeps repeat requests down.

After the trust is set up

Funding follows signature: assets move to the trustee or to a company held by the trust, and every transfer is logged.

Day to day, you send us a request and we prepare the papers. The trustee then decides under the deed, in meetings and resolutions covering distributions, investments and changes of beneficiary.

The trustee keeps the accounts current each year, and we send you a report. Which filings under the Law apply to your structure is a point your lawyer confirms for your case.

Cost comes next: what shapes the cost of running the structure. For points not covered here, see the short answers.