Nevis trust formation: steps and documents

Before you start: what you decide

Four choices shape a Nevis set-up, and your lawyer will raise each one in the first call.

• Residence. The settlor and the beneficiaries must at all times be non-residents of Nevis, so check where each person lives, and whether anyone plans to move, before anything else.
• Trustee. One trustee must be a Nevis corporation or a trust company doing business in Nevis. So at least one office-holder is a local company, not an individual abroad.
• Roles. Say whether the deed names a protector and what that person may veto. Say how long the trust should last, since the default is no limit unless the deed sets one.
• Assets. Decide what moves in, and whether a holding company sits under the trust.

Your tax adviser at home reads the plan before the deed is drafted, because the Nevis rules do not decide how your own country treats you.

A trust does not suit every aim. After the first review you may find that another route serves you better.

Step by step: from enquiry to signed deed

Nothing is signed until your lawyer has approved the deed and the trustee has agreed to act. The order we follow:

1. Enquiry. You tell us where the settlor and beneficiaries live, what you plan to hold and why.
2. Residence and identity check. We confirm that no party is a Nevis resident and gather certified identity papers.
3. Trustee match. We line up a Nevis trust company to act, subject to its own acceptance checks.
4. Deed under the ordinance. The law firm drafts the deed under Cap. 07.03(N), with the protector powers and duration you chose.
5. Signing abroad. You sign before a notary where you live, and the trustee accepts office.
6. Register entry. The registered agent enters the trust on the register of international trusts.
7. Funding. Assets move to the trustee only after the entry is made and the bank has cleared the source of funds.

Funding last is our own rule of practice, not a statutory step, and the reason is simple. If a claim later appears, a record that shows the trust existing before the transfer is easier to defend.

You can assemble the papers while step 1 is under way.

Documents the trustee asks for

Two sets of papers are needed: those that prove who you are and where you live, and those that show where the money came from. We expect the trustee to ask for the following, and it may add to the list.

• A certified passport or identity card for the settlor and each beneficiary.
• Proof of address for each of them, since residence outside Nevis is a condition.
• A written account of how the settlor built the wealth, with supporting papers.
• Evidence for the specific funds you plan to transfer, such as a sale contract or a bank statement.
• Beneficiary names, dates of birth and relationship to the settlor.
• Share certificates or title papers for any company or property that goes in.
• Details of the registered agent that will make the register entry, once chosen.

The registered agent also has to act, so ask early what it needs from you in its own onboarding form.

Identity and source-of-funds checks

Checks come first because a trustee that skips them cannot be trusted with your assets. They also protect the trust: a clean file is easier to defend later.

Three questions come up every time. Who are you and who benefits? Where did each sum come from? What should the structure do?

Plain answers with papers behind them clear fast. A loan that cannot be traced or a round figure without evidence slows the whole file.

The trustee also screens every party for sanctions and politically exposed status. A hit is explained to you early, together with what the trustee needs next.

We keep one checklist with open items marked. A letter from a foreign bank can take weeks, so we chase it at the start.

After the trust is set up

The trustee holds the assets under the deed, keeps the accounts and records its decisions at genuine meetings. The registered agent looks after the entry on the register.

If the trust owns a company, the trustee holds its shares and the company keeps its own accounts, so two sets of records run side by side.

Review the structure every year, and again after a marriage, a birth, a sale of a business or a move to another country. A move matters most here: a settlor or beneficiary who becomes a Nevis resident puts the residence condition at risk.

Keep the letter of wishes current. It guides the trustee but binds nobody.

The rules behind these steps are on the law and features page. Charges are set out in the cost breakdown, and the Nevis overview gives the wider picture.