How to Set Up a Nevis Trust as a Citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis and Secure Your Children’s Future

Citizenship is the starting point. What you build on top of it determines whether your wealth will endure for the next generation.

Saint Kitts and Nevis offers one of the world’s oldest and most respected Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs. But the value of the Federation goes beyond a second passport: Nevis, a smaller island within the Federation, is home to one of the strongest offshore trust models for protecting family capital across generations.

If you hold citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis and live abroad, you can establish a Nevis International Exempt Trust under the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance (NIETO). Such a trust can hold assets for the benefit of your children, using legal protection mechanisms that are not available in every jurisdiction.

Why Nevis?

Nevis operates as an offshore financial center since 1984—the same period when the Federation launched its CBI program. At the same time, Nevis trust legislation developed independently from Saint Kitts, following a similar logic to how U.S. states maintain their own trust and corporate rules regardless of federal law.

NIETO was first enacted in 1994 and then updated multiple times. The most notable modernization is the full repeal and update in 2020, when protection for both settlors and beneficiaries was strengthened. Today, many asset-protection attorneys place Nevis alongside Cook Islands as a benchmark for offshore trust law.

The foundation is built on English common law principles, enhanced by additional statutory safeguards that provide a materially stronger level of protection than typical approaches in the UK, Canada, or the U.S.

What makes a Nevis trust especially “protective” for a family

Several NIETO features directly support the long-term preservation of capital for your children.

Foreign court judgments are not recognized. If a creditor obtains a court order in another country, it does not automatically take effect in Nevis. The creditor must start a new case in Nevis, retain local counsel, and post security (a bond of at least $100,000) before the court will consider the claim.

A very high evidentiary threshold. The creditor must prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that the trust was created specifically to defraud that particular creditor. This is far more difficult than the civil standards applied in many other jurisdictions.

Limited timeframes to challenge “fraudulent transfer.” Existing creditors have one year from the date the assets were transferred to challenge the transaction. Future creditors have two years from when the cause of action arises. Once these periods expire, the trust assets become substantially less vulnerable.

Trusts can last indefinitely. The “perpetuities” rule under NIETO does not apply. This makes it possible to design a dynastic trust intended to last through the lifetimes of your children, grandchildren, and beyond.

No freezing orders. Unlike some common-law jurisdictions (including Cook Islands), a creditor cannot obtain a Mareva injunction to freeze the trust’s assets during the dispute. As a result, the trustee retains the ability to manage and distribute assets even while litigation is ongoing.

Tax advantages for the family

In Saint Kitts and Nevis, there is no personal income tax, no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax, and no capital/wealth tax. Similarly, Nevis international exempt trusts are exempt from local taxes on income and other categories related to assets held outside Nevis, including income, capital gains, VAT, withholding, and stamp duties.

For your children, this is critical. In many countries, transferring wealth between generations triggers high inheritance/property taxes that can “erode” 40% or more of the value of the estate. A properly structured Nevis trust can keep assets outside the reach of domestic tax regimes—provided you meet the reporting requirements in your tax-residency country.

Important: this is not about tax evasion. It’s about lawful legal structures that help preserve capital in a tax-neutral environment while complying with your obligations where you live.

How to work around forced heirship rules (in the family’s interest)

If you are a citizen of a civil-law country—for example, France, Germany, Italy, much of Latin America, or certain Middle Eastern jurisdictions—forced heirship rules often apply at home. These are provisions that require transferring a fixed portion of your estate to specific heirs, regardless of your wishes.

NIETO expressly states that a Nevis trust cannot be invalidated due to forced heirship rules of the settlor’s domicile or residency country. You draft the trust deed yourself: you set the beneficiaries and the conditions for distributions. Nevis law will not support attempts by a foreign court to rewrite those terms.

This provides a level of control that is often missing in domestic systems. You can include conditions such as eligibility ages for distributions, education requirements, and other milestones you define.

The connection to citizenship: why a passport becomes a planning tool

There is an important condition: to establish a Nevis international exempt trust, both the settlor and the beneficiaries must be non-residents of Nevis, and the trust property may not include real estate located in the Federation.

This is where Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship turns from a “travel document” into a strategic asset. If you are a citizen living abroad, you meet the criteria. Your children (if included as dependents in your CBI application) also receive citizenship and can be beneficiaries—provided they, too, live outside the Federation.

The CBI program reform for 2026 introduces “genuine link” requirements and expectations around residency. However, such a shift is likely to increase confidence in the jurisdiction: Joseph Rowe Law partner Daisy Joseph-Andall notes that many clients are now intentionally seeking “genuine connection” in their immigration planning rather than treating citizenship as a one-off transaction.

A deeper connection to the Federation helps you use not only the passport, but the full toolkit of wealth planning.

How the trust is structured for the next generation

In practice, a common approach is to combine a Nevis trust with one or more Nevis limited liability companies (LLCs). The trust holds shares/equity in the LLCs, while the LLCs hold operational assets—bank accounts, securities portfolios, or other business tools. This way you get asset protection through the trust and governance flexibility through the corporate layer.

In Nevis, there is no public register of shareholders or beneficiaries. The trust deed itself is not filed for public access—it remains with the trustee’s office. This level of confidentiality reduces risks for the family: fewer exposure points and fewer opportunities for targeted claims.

For your children, the trust can be tailored to provide income during their lifetimes while preserving capital for future generations. The strongest protection is often achieved with a discretionary trust, where the trustee decides the timing and amounts of distributions within the guidelines set out in the deed. Even if a creditor obtains a court judgment against one of your children, the trustee is not required to distribute assets to satisfy that claim.

NIETO also allows the trustee to continue paying a beneficiary’s expenses (for example, education, insurance premiums, or living costs)—and these payments do not automatically become available for creditor enforcement.

Timelines and practical considerations

The registration process is fairly straightforward: the trust must be registered with the Nevis Financial Services Department within 30 days after the trust document is executed. Government fees are moderate—approximately $300 for filing and $20 for the certificate. The trust’s legal effect begins upon execution of the deed.

Professional fees for setup and administration are separate and depend on the complexity of the structure and the asset mix. Without expert legal support, it’s difficult to get this right: the strength of the trust depends not only on the “jurisdiction,” but also on how exactly the document is drafted and how it is administered.

Daisy Joseph-Andall highlights the company’s approach: “long-term security, not just getting initial approval.” This philosophy is carried over directly from CBI consultations into trust and estate planning. Joseph Rowe Law manages Belvedere Management Corp—an authorized and regulated trust and corporate services provider licensed and supervised by the Nevis Financial Services Regulatory Commission, enabling the firm not only to prepare documents but also to administer such structures.

A jurisdiction families can trust

The Federation’s reputation continues to strengthen. In February 2026, FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a U.S. Treasury Department bureau) formally revoked an old decade-old advisory notice that, since 2014, had cast a shadow over the Saint Kitts and Nevis CBI program. The revocation, along with ongoing reforms, signals that the jurisdiction has been operating under high compliance standards for more than four decades.

For families who think in terms of sovereign diversification and multi-generation planning, the combination of Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship + a Nevis trust is today one of the most complete packages in investment migration.

A passport opens doors. A trust protects what you leave behind. To learn more about setting up a Nevis trust or a multi-layer estate transfer plan, contact Joseph Rowe Law.

If you’re considering Citizenship by Investment through St. Kitts & Nevis and want more than a second passport—build a long-term family wealth protection strategy—explore Nevis’s offshore trust planning framework. Digital Nomad can help you understand how NIETO works and shape an approach aligned with your goals and your family structure. Learn more: https://digital-nomad.gr/en/goldenvisa

Our Telegram channel about various types of Greek residence permits, digital nomad programs, and the Greek Golden Visa: @digitalnomadgr