FAQs

In Seychelles only a licenced corporate trustee or an approved employee of a licenced corporate trustee. In all cases, the licenced corporate trustee would be required to act as the resident trustee and the employee can be appointed as an additional trustee. Outside of Seychelles any individual person over 18 years old can be appointed. Any corporate entity such a company, corporation or foundation can also be appointed. A settlor whether the settlor is an individual person or a corporate entity can be a trustee but this arrangement is generally not recommended because it can often give the impression that the settlor is still in full control of the assets. A Seychelles trust is required to have a licenced corporate trustee as the “resident trustee”. Additional trustees whether residing in Seychelles or in other countries is optional.

Yes but protector should have limited involvement in the day to day management of the Trust. For example the protector’s powers should be limited to vetoing trustee actions.

Any individual person or corporate entity who is not domiciled in Seychelles can be a settlor. An individual person must be at 18 years old and can be of any nationality. Note that settling the Trust should not cause the settlor to go “bankrupt”. A person must take advice before settling a Trust.

The Trust Act defines settlors and beneficiaries and it defines the duties, appointment and removal of trustees, co-trustees and the resident trustee. Supervisory persons or “protectors” is a well-known and recognized concept although it is not defined in the Act. Special provision must be made for such persons in the Trust Deed.

It will depend on the exact details of the trust, please consult your estate planners and other professional advisors and planners. For a validly constituted irrevocable discretionary trust that has been properly managed and which has no settlor involvement whatsoever it is usually not easy for creditors to “claw back” assets, i.e. to force the trustees to return the assets to the settlor.

Technically anyone can because the banks do have any special requirements and the law and our Trust deed are also silent on the matter. However we strongly recommend against having a settlor or a beneficiary or their agents as a bank signatory and we may not accept a Trust if such an arrangement is specified. The trustees are expected to be the bank signatories and the protectors could also be appointed as joint-signatories together with the trustees. This is because the trustees and to a lesser extent the protectors are the only parties who should have control. Bank signatories have control of trust assets, namely the cash funds.

Yes the trustees must keep complete and accurate books of accounts and other records. If there are co-trustees we as the resident trustee would regularly need documents and information relating to their activities to ensure that our records of the Trust is complete and accurate as well.

No not in Seychelles. Trust income derived from a source not in Seychelles is totally exempt.

A Seychelles International Trust is only allowed to own shares of Seychelles International Business Companies (IBCs) but note that a Seychelles IBC cannot have an interest in immoveable property (land, buildings) in Seychelles. So a trust can only invest in Seychelles via a Seychelles IBC that does not have interests in immoveable property in Seychelles. For Seychelles property investments, provided that the settlor will not become domiciled in Seychelles, a Seychelles trust can own the shares of companies registered in other countries (like Belize IBCs) that in turn own a domestic company that in turn owns Eden Island properties, or other local properties where government sanction has been granted.

Yes it does. A rule of forced heirship  is any rule of law in a jurisdiction other than Seychelles which in order to protect or give effect to the rights of any person or class of persons to inherit, succeed or to share in the settlor’s property on the settlor’s death, removes the settlor’s right to deal with the property as he wishes. Section 10(2) of the Act says: “neither the trust nor the transfer or disposition shall be invalidated by any foreign rule of forced heirship, or by reason of the fact that the concept of trust is unknown to or not admitted by the law of a jurisdiction other than Seychelles;”