(NEVIS TRUST & ASSET PROTECTION)
Nevis Trust
The Nevis Trust is a purpose-built offshore asset-protection structure, set apart by a compulsory creditor bond, an exacting fraud standard and its refusal to recognise foreign judgments. Our team handles formation, onboards the trustee and registered agent, and arranges an optional Nevis LLC and banking, all at fixed, published fees.
Core jurisdiction
Offshore Companies · Nevis Trust
Caribbean
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Latitude
00.0000° N
Longitude
000.0000° W
Fixed fee from
$10,000
Stand-alone Nevis Trust formation, priced up front before we start.
Typical formation
3–8 weeks
Depends on trustee and registered-agent due diligence, drafting and how quickly documents come together.
Primary use
Asset protection
Frequently paired with succession and long-range wealth planning.
(NEVIS TRUST OVERVIEW)
A Nevis Trust pairs robust statutory asset protection with some of the steepest procedural hurdles a creditor will face anywhere
It is created under the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, which places chosen assets with a qualifying Nevis trustee and registered agent, working from a deed built around your protection, succession and governance goals.
By design it puts legal and geographic distance between you and the trust assets. A foreign judgment carries no automatic force over the Nevis trustee and does not pass across control of the trust property. To get anywhere, a claimant generally has to open fresh proceedings in Nevis, meet the local standards of proof and move inside tight statutory deadlines.
A protector with clearly scoped oversight powers can be named in the deed, while a Nevis LLC often serves as the practical shell for holding bank accounts, brokerage portfolios, business stakes and other investments. Whether it all holds up depends on setting the structure up lawfully and early, keeping the trustee genuinely independent, running the administration properly and taking suitable legal and tax advice at home.
Statute
Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance
Creditor bond
EC$270,000 (about US$100,000)
Protector
Permitted, with deed-defined powers
Redomiciliation
Existing foreign trusts can move to Nevis governing law
Claim periods
Particular one- and two-year rules can bite
Foreign judgments
Carry no force against the Nevis trust
A broad statutory summary only; how it lands depends on the deed, the transfer history, the claim and the governing law.
(WHAT IS INCLUDED)
End-to-end setup of your Nevis Trust
Pick only the depth of structure your situation actually calls for
Core formation of the trust starts at $10,000, a defined entry point for anyone who needs a dedicated asset-protection vehicle. Clients who already hold workable banking or investment arrangements often take the trust on its own; others add a Nevis LLC to keep ownership of bank accounts, brokerage portfolios, business stakes or other holdings tidy.
Where a fuller, turnkey arrangement is wanted, the Total Protection option pulls the trust, the company and the banking work into one coordinated package. Which tier fits comes down to what will sit inside the structure, how those assets get managed and whether extra banking or corporate administration is in play.
The exact deliverables, outside costs and recurring trustee fees are pinned down at onboarding and written into the engagement paperwork.
Nevis Trust
$10,000
Typical formation: 3–8 weeks
A single-purpose asset-protection trust set up with a qualifying Nevis trustee and registered agent.
Coordination of trustee onboarding and due diligence
Trust deed and formation documentation
First-year listed formation costs
Protection with a Nevis LLC
$11,000
Structure-dependent timing
The trust sits over a Nevis LLC that in turn holds approved bank, brokerage or investment assets.
Nevis Trust formation
Registered Nevis LLC
Coordinated ownership documents
Trust, Nevis LLC and banking
$12,000
Coordinated formation
A full build tying together the trust, a Nevis LLC and banking support.
Nevis Trust
Nevis LLC
Bank-account coordination
Figures shown are indicative fixed fees in USD; the engagement letter and the trustee’s acceptance lock down the precise scope before any formation work starts.
(NEVIS TRUST GUIDE)
Understanding the Nevis Trust
So how does a Nevis Trust actually work?
It splits legal ownership and administration of the chosen assets away from whoever sets the trust up.
The settlor signs a deed, appoints a qualifying trustee and completes registration through a Nevis registered agent. As soon as accepted assets pass into the trust, the trustee holds and runs them for the beneficiaries under both the deed and Nevis law.
Beneficiaries, the trustee's powers, the distribution rules and any reserved powers are all spelled out in the deed, and the trust is registered through its Nevis registered agent. A protector can be added on top to hold defined oversight rights, without taking over the trustee's independent duties.
- Settlor: sets the trust up and puts approved assets in.
- Trustee: holds legal title to and administers the trust property.
- Beneficiaries: can take distributions as the deed allows.
- Protector: may carry limited consent or replacement powers, where the deed provides them.
We pull together the deed, the qualifying trustee and registered agent, the due diligence and the formation itself.
Discuss your trustWho controls a Nevis Trust?
You can keep a practical hand in things, but the structure cannot leave every call sitting under the settlor's unchecked personal control.
Running the trust falls to the qualifying trustee and registered agent, who have to be free to use genuinely independent judgment. The deed can still hand specific powers back to the settlor and can bring in a protector, investment adviser or LLC manager for set roles.
The routine investment or banking activity usually runs through an underlying Nevis LLC, even though the trust remains the owner of that company.
- Reserved powers: can extend to limited investment, appointment or advisory decisions.
- Protector powers: might carry consent rights or the power to swap out the trustee.
- Trustee independence: remains essential to proper administration.
- Emergency planning: can spell out how authority shifts once legal pressure appears.
What can you actually put into a Nevis Trust?
The trust only goes live once accepted assets are properly moved in and logged as trust property.
Typical holdings run to cash, securities, private-company shares, investment accounts and stakes in an underlying Nevis LLC. The trustee, and any bank or custodian involved, will vet the proposed assets, the source of wealth and the backing paperwork.
Real estate normally stays under the law of wherever it sits. Rather than dropping it straight into the trust, it is often held through a company or folded into separate planning.
- Cash and deposits held through approved banking arrangements.
- Investment portfolios once the trustee and custodian sign off.
- Company interests handy for pulling operating or investment assets together.
- Other property always always subject to trustee acceptance and local legal advice.
Why add a Nevis LLC?
A Nevis LLC owned by the trust gives you a working vehicle for holding accounts, investments and other approved assets.
The trust holds the Nevis LLC, and directors or managers take care of the permitted day-to-day work. That keeps the trustee's ownership role apart from the everyday banking, custody and investment administration.
Our Total Protection Package ties the Nevis Trust to a Nevis LLC and coordinated offshore banking.
- One ownership layer across several bank, brokerage or investment accounts.
- Practical administration through authorised directors or managers.
- Continuity since the trust owns the company instead of each asset one by one.
- Separate obligations covering company filings, accounting, tax and banking compliance.
The Total Protection Package suits clients who want the trust and a workable asset-holding entity in one go.
Explore Total ProtectionWhere does Nevis Trust protection stop?
A Nevis Trust is a forward-looking planning tool, not a device for hiding assets or beating obligations you already validly owe.
A transfer can still be attacked where a creditor proves the statutory elements — principal intent to defraud and the required insolvency conditions — inside the applicable time limits. The trustee will likewise insist on full disclosure of the people, the assets, the source of wealth and what the structure is really for.
The protection only stands on valid formation, genuine funding, compliant administration and advice taken in every jurisdiction that matters.
- No retroactive protection: any current or foreseeable dispute calls for legal advice straight away.
- No secrecy from authorities: tax and reporting duties continue.
- No guaranteed outcome: the facts, the timing and the governing law still decide the outcome.
- No substitute for domestic planning: insurance and local entities can still have their place.
When is the right time to set a Nevis Trust up?
Planning works best when it is wrapped up while your finances are steady, ahead of any particular dispute, claim or enforcement threat.
Setting the trust up means trustee due diligence, drafting, signing and funding. Leaving enough runway makes it far easier to record why the trust exists and to line up asset transfers, banking and professional advice properly.
Most formations aim for roughly 3–8 weeks, though tricky assets or banking can stretch the full rollout.
- Plan before pressure: don't leave a transfer until it turns urgent.
- Prepare documentation: keep your identity, address and source-of-wealth evidence up to date.
- Coordinate funding: settle which assets are moving before anything is signed.
- Review existing obligations: creditors, guarantees and disputes all have to be put on the table.
Which tax and reporting duties come with it?
Offshore is not the same as unreported. What you owe depends on the settlor, the beneficiaries, the trustee, the assets and the countries in the mix.
The Nevis trustee, the registered agent and any bank or custodian will run KYC and beneficial-ownership checks. On top of that, your home country's tax, foreign-trust, foreign-account and asset-reporting rules may bite.
US persons can face Forms 3520 and 3520-A, along with separate foreign-account or asset reporting, depending on how the structure and accounts are set up.
- Trust reporting can be triggered when the trust is formed, funded or pays out.
- Foreign-account reporting can reach both trust and underlying-company accounts.
- Tax treatment turns on residence, control, the beneficiaries and the type of asset.
- Professional advice is best taken before you form or fund anything.
Who tends to look at a Nevis Trust?
It tends to appeal to people with real assets, long-term goals and a genuine need for cross-border protection or succession planning.
Think business owners, professionals, property investors, international families and anyone whose line of work draws heavy litigation risk. The upside has to be worth the setup cost, the trustee relationship and the running administration.
It fits poorly when the asset base is small, the aim is short term, full disclosure is off the table, or the settlor won't cede real authority to a qualifying trustee and registered agent.
- Business owners walling personal wealth off from business risk.
- Professionals with elevated liability exposure.
- Investors and families coordinating succession and cross-border ownership.
- Clients seeking Total Protection by way of a trust, a company and a banking layer.
We weigh the proposed assets, the objectives, the timing and the reporting picture before we recommend anything.
Book a consultation(WHY CLIENTS CHOOSE OFFSHORE COMPANIES ONLINE)
Nevis Trust know-how, with trustee coordination handled directly
We bring years of offshore trust, company, banking and asset-protection experience together with direct working ties in Nevis. The trustee, registered agent, trust deed, optional Nevis LLC and banking all run through a single point of contact, not tiers of introducers.
Jurisdiction-specific coordination
We coordinate straight with Nevis trustees and registered agents who know the local registration, deed, due-diligence and formation requirements inside out.
Direct trustee relationships
We deal directly with Nevis trustees and registered agents instead of routing clients through tiers of introducers, which cuts both delay and needless referral costs.
Clear, stated pricing
Scope and fees are laid out before any work starts, and trustee charges, third-party costs and ongoing administration are all explained at onboarding.
Trust and Nevis LLC structuring
If the trust also needs a Nevis LLC, banking, brokerage or a second jurisdiction, we run the whole wider build through a single point of contact.
Compliance-aware implementation
Optional legal and tax coordination can be layered on when it's wanted, so the structure is looked at next to the client's home-country reporting and compliance duties.
(HOW DOES A NEVIS TRUST WORK?)
Procedural protection for your assets
Set up and run correctly, a Nevis Trust stacks several statutory barriers between a foreign judgment and the trust assets. A creditor has to open fresh proceedings in Nevis, post the required EC$270,000 bond, prove a principal intent to defraud beyond reasonable doubt and act within the statutory time rules. Those protections are at their strongest when the trust exists for a genuine reason, is funded before a dispute is foreseeable and is administered with real trustee independence.
Stage 01
Ordinary operation
Everyday management through a Nevis LLC the trust owns
The trust can own a Nevis LLC that you manage for the routine banking and investment calls. The day-to-day stays practical, while ownership of the LLC rests with the trust rather than in your own name.
Protective effectOwnership and hands-on LLC management are split apart before anyone tests the structure.
Stage 02
Protection written in advance
The deed fixes authority before any pressure arrives
The deed can set out reserved powers, protector oversight, manager-removal rights and exactly how the trustee should respond to a lawsuit, judgment or forced instruction.
Protective effectControl and intervention procedures are written down well before any creditor fight breaks out.
Stage 03
Trustee intervention
Independent control can move once a threat lands
Once a defined event hits, the independent trustee can remove or replace the Nevis LLC manager and turn down instructions handed over under legal compulsion, wherever the deed and its duties require it.
Protective effectOperational authority can pass away from the settlor and to the independent trustee or its appointed manager.
Stage 04
Jurisdictional separation
A foreign judgment can't be enforced against the trust
Under the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, a foreign judgment against the trust cannot be enforced in Nevis and does not, on its own, transfer control of trust property.
Protective effectA creditor has to open a new Nevis action rather than leaning on the foreign order alone.
Stage 05
Creditor procedure
A creditor has to lodge the statutory bond first
Before it can bring an action against trust property, a creditor must put up the statutory EC$270,000 bond through a Nevis financial institution to cover potential costs.
Protective effectThat bond drives up the cost of speculative or weak litigation before the merits are even heard.
Stage 06
High proof threshold
Fraud has to clear a demanding statutory test
A creditor attacking a transfer must prove a principal intent to defraud beyond reasonable doubt, along with the statutory insolvency conditions, and must act within the applicable time rules.
Protective effectThe burden, the bond and the limitation rules work together to screen out late, speculative or poorly supported claims.
This walkthrough is for education and lays out how a well-drafted, well-run structure is meant to behave. It promises no particular court, creditor or tax result. For each client, the deed, the trustee's powers, the funding history and the relevant home-country law all have to be reviewed.
(TOTAL PROTECTION PACKAGE)
The trust, a Nevis LLC & banking, combined
One joined-up structure built around a Nevis Trust, adding a registered Nevis LLC and bank-account support where it makes sense. The LLC gives the trust an outer shell and a working operating entity through which approved assets can be held and administered.
- Your offshore trust application handled end to end
- First-year trustee charges and the listed third-party setup costs are covered
- The trust deed, Nevis registration and supporting ownership documents drafted
- The structure stood up and ready to take in approved assets
(NEVIS EXPERTISE)
Meet our Nevis Trust specialists
John Evans
Forbes Business Council Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
More than two decades of experience across offshore banking, asset protection, international companies and trusts.
Melanie Tetuaiteroi
Sales Assistant
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Supports client onboarding, communications, documentation and operational coordination, backed by fiduciary administration experience.
(FORMATION PROCESS)
01
Protection consultation
We look over your assets, current exposure, residency, family aims and timing, and weigh whether a Nevis Trust and an optional Nevis LLC are a proportionate answer for you.
02
Trustee and structure selection
Working alongside a qualifying Nevis trustee and registered agent, we settle on whether you need the trust on its own, a Nevis LLC or added banking support.
03
Due diligence and drafting
As you work through the trustee’s due diligence, we draft the deed, the powers, the beneficiary arrangements and the ownership documents that sit behind them.
04
Formation and funding
Once the trust is signed and registered, approved assets, Nevis LLC interests or account arrangements are moved into the structure.
(NEVIS TRUST INSIGHTS)
Nevis Trust Insights
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(ABOUT NEVIS TRUSTS)
What is a Nevis Trust?
A Nevis Trust is an international trust registered under the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance and administered through a qualifying trustee and Nevis registered agent. You, as settlor, move chosen assets in, while the deed names the beneficiaries, the trustee’s powers, the distribution rules, any reserved powers and the role of an optional protector. International-trust status generally calls for non-resident settlors and beneficiaries and shuts out land sited in St Kitts and Nevis.
Where the asset protection actually comes from
Foreign judgments against the trust cannot be enforced in Nevis, so a creditor has to bring a fresh local action. Before it can even move against trust property, it must lodge an EC$270,000 bond through a Nevis financial institution. A fraudulent-transfer challenge then needs proof beyond reasonable doubt of the settlor’s principal intent to defraud that particular creditor, plus the relevant insolvency condition, all inside the Ordinance’s one- and two-year rules. None of this launders criminal proceeds, concealment or an otherwise unlawful transfer.
Layering in a Nevis LLC and a bank account
Plenty of Nevis Trust structures own a Nevis LLC that holds the approved bank, brokerage or investment assets. In ordinary times the settlor can act as LLC manager while the trust stays the ownership layer and the trustee keeps whatever authority the deed requires. The trust, the LLC and the accounts all have to be papered consistently, and banking, tax-residence, beneficial-ownership and financial-account reporting keep applying. US persons may also carry foreign-trust filings such as Forms 3520 and 3520-A, so take independent legal and tax advice before you form or fund the structure.
(NEVIS TRUST QUESTIONS)
Common questions about Nevis Trusts
A Nevis Trust is formed under Nevis law, run by a qualifying trustee and registered through a Nevis registered agent. That trustee holds whatever assets are transferred in, under the deed, for the beneficiaries and the purposes it permits.
We put stand-alone formation at $10,000 and up, with the scope and what's included confirmed before we start. Add a Nevis LLC, banking, complicated assets or outside professional advice and the total climbs.
Figure on roughly 3–8 weeks for a typical formation. The exact pace hangs on trustee due diligence, drafting, how ready the documents are, the assets involved and whether banking or brokerage accounts are needed too.
Before bringing an action against trust property, a creditor has to lodge a bond of EC$270,000 — roughly US$100,000 — through a Nevis financial institution. It secures the costs if the creditor loses.
Defined reserved powers can be written into the deed, and a protector or investment adviser can be named. You may also stay involved day to day through a trust-owned Nevis LLC, but the trustee has to keep real independent authority.
No. Under the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, foreign judgments against the trust cannot be enforced in Nevis. A claimant has to bring fresh proceedings locally and satisfy the Nevis rules on law, procedure, evidence, bond and timing.
The Total Protection Package brings together a Nevis Trust, a registered Nevis LLC and coordinated bank-account support. You get an outer protective layer plus a working entity for holding and administering approved assets.
Yes, so long as it's set up and used for lawful ends. It strips away none of your tax, disclosure, court or reporting duties, and it must never be used to hide assets, dodge tax or improperly beat a creditor claim that already exists.
That's a question for immediate, case-specific legal advice, because the statutory protections won't rescue an improper transfer. Any transfer made after a claim has surfaced, or become foreseeable, can draw fraudulent-transfer, insolvency or court challenges. The structure is almost always stronger when built ahead of trouble.
US persons can pick up foreign-trust reporting duties, Forms 3520 and 3520-A among them. Separate foreign-account or foreign-asset reporting may also come into it, so take independent US legal and tax advice before you form or fund the trust.
(CONTACT US)
Speak to a specialist. Let’s build your structure.
Book a confidential, no-obligation consultation with a senior member of our team to discuss your objectives and the services we have available.
