Nevis trust cost

Formation costs

Setting up a Nevis trust through Our team costs a flat $10,000, with the trustee's first-year fees folded in — identical to the flat rate We charge to form a Cook Islands trust. What distinguishes the two jurisdictions is not the price tag; a reputable trustee carrying the right staffing and compliance backbone charges the same on either side. If a provider's quote sits well away from that number, look hard at what has been left out and at whether the trustee genuinely has the institutional depth it claims.

By way of comparison: forming a Cook Islands trust with Our team also comes to a flat $10,000 with year-one fees covered. The gap between the two jurisdictions isn't about money — it lies in how each one keeps creditors at bay. Nevis leans on a statutory bond a claimant is required to lodge before suing, whereas the Cook Islands leans on a long, litigation-tested history of standing firm in foreign courtrooms.

Annual administration

Yearly administration on a simple Nevis trust falls between $2,500 and $6,000. Included in that are the annual review, the trust accounts, renewal of the registration, and the handling of ordinary distributions. Where a trust holds an operating business, owns property across several jurisdictions, or makes distributions often, the figure climbs above that band. In a year when a trust does little — no distributions and no changes to its assets — it lands toward the bottom.

Because annual expense hinges more on which trustee you use and how busy the trust is in any given year than on the jurisdiction itself, don't take for granted that there's a cost gap between Nevis and the Cook Islands — obtain a quote for each before you weigh them against one another.

What sits outside the quote

There are five things that show up in most Nevis trust arrangements yet rarely make it into the opening quote. Most trusts operate through an underlying Nevis LLC for flexibility, and that carries its own formation and yearly charges. Banking is handled apart from forming the trust and moves on a separate schedule. Meeting US tax obligations — Forms 3520 and 3520-A — calls for a CPA versed in foreign trusts, which adds $1,500 to $3,500 each year. Moving assets in, above all the conveyancing of real estate, is billed separately. And the cost of exiting, when you eventually replace the trustee, is seldom spelled out at the start. Before you accept any figure, ask about each of these five by name.

The fee model question

Trustees in Nevis apply the same trio of fee structures that Cook Islands trustees use: a fixed annual charge, a fixed charge topped up with time-based billing, and ad valorem. The fixed annual approach offers the clearest predictability. Ad valorem, levied as a share of the trust's assets, ends up costliest for large portfolios that sit idle, since it tracks the asset value rather than the work performed. Before you sign, pin down exactly which model applies and where the base rate ends and hourly billing begins.

Situations where price shouldn't drive the choice

Where a client is up against a capable, deep-pocketed creditor — a federal agency, a major corporate litigant, or a law firm fluent in offshore structures — the two jurisdictions should be judged on how strong a deterrent each offers rather than on cost, given that formation prices line up. The battle-tested Cook Islands statute, having survived thirty years of federal appellate challenges, hands that kind of client a longer proven record to rely on.

For a client whose exposure is real but moderate, and whose creditors are improbable to bankroll a serious offshore fight no matter the jurisdiction, the Nevis bond rule — obliging a claimant to put up security before any litigation begins — may amount to enough of a deterrent by itself. With that profile, the longer courtroom history of the Cook Islands is unlikely to tip the balance.

See Nevis vs Cook Islands for the full comparison and formation for what the process involves.