Trust vs foundation is a choice between a relationship and a legal person: in a trust a trustee holds the assets for the beneficiaries, while a foundation owns them itself and its council or officers run it under a charter. The right one depends on the family's legal tradition, the control the founder wants to keep and what the law makes you file and publish. Below: both side by side in 4 jurisdictions, the foundation laws of 14 jurisdictions and the eight decisions that settle the choice.
Updated · Reviewed by the Prifinance team
A trust has no legal personality of its own. The settlor transfers assets to a trustee, who holds them in its own name, keeps them apart from its own estate and deals with them for the beneficiaries or for a purpose. A foundation is an entity. The founder endows it, the assets become its property, and a council manages them under a charter and regulations, so the founder keeps only the rights those documents grant.
A starting point rather than a rule: the family, the assets and the countries involved can move any of these.
Here the foundation itself is the reason to look: Panama's private interest foundation, the Cayman foundation company, the Nevis multiform foundation, which may take the form of a trust or a company, and the two UAE regimes, the DIFC foundation and the ADGM foundation.
| Jurisdiction and law | Minimum assets and registration | Bodies and protection |
|---|---|---|
| Panama: Law 25 of 1995 on private interest foundationsMore details → | B/.10,000 of initial patrimony; the charter is protocolised by a Panamanian notary and entered in the Public Registry, with a first single fee of B/.350 | A council of three unless a legal person serves, a lawyer as resident agent, an optional protector; heirship rules of the founder's home cannot be raised against it |
| Isle of Man: Foundations Act 2011 (AT 17 of 2011) | No minimum; filed only by a class 4 licenceholder, £100 within 48 hours or £250 within 2 hours; the foundation instrument is public | A council of one or more and a registered agent; an enforcer for a specified non-charitable purpose; beneficiaries have no interest in the assets |
| Cayman Islands: Foundation Companies Act (2025 Revision) | A company limited by shares or by guarantee that the Registrar declares a foundation company; no minimum; CI$500 for the declaration on top of the Companies Act fees | A licensed qualified person as secretary, supervisors once members fall away, no dividends to members; beneficiaries have only the rights the constitution gives |
| Nevis: Multiform Foundations Ordinance, Cap. 7.08 (N) | No minimum; it may take the form of a trust, a company or a partnership; US$300 for the certificate of establishment, then US$300 a year | A management board, a secretary and a Nevis registered agent; a creditor must prove intent to defraud beyond reasonable doubt and cannot touch a subscription made over a year after his claim arose |
| The Bahamas: Foundations Act, Chapter 369D | At least B$10,000 or US$10,000 of assets; registered by the Registrar General, and the charter and articles need not be filed | Officers or a council, and an agent licensed for financial and corporate services or as a trust company; no distribution may be made to defeat a claim of the foundation's creditors |
| Seychelles: Foundations Act, 2009 | US$1 of initial assets; a licensed registered agent files the charter with the FSA, US$200 to register and US$200 a year; only the charter and certificates can be inspected | A council of one or more, never the founder alone, and an optional protector; a creditor's claim against a transfer is barred after 2 years |
| Labuan (Malaysia): Labuan Foundations Act 2010 (Act 706) | No minimum; the secretary, a Labuan trust company, applies to the Labuan FSA; US$300 a year from 2026; filed documents can be inspected only by persons the foundation authorises | At least one officer, an optional council and supervisory person; Malaysian property only with approval unless charitable; a transfer made over 2 years after a claim arose stands |
| Mauritius: Foundations Act 2012 | No minimum; MUR 9,000 plus MUR 100 for the certificate, then MUR 18,000 a year, or MUR 9,000 if charitable; the register is closed to the public | A secretary that is a management company or another Mauritius resident the FSC authorises, a council member ordinarily resident in Mauritius, an optional protector; a written declaration from the beneficial owner |
| DIFC (Dubai): Foundations Law, DIFC Law No. 3 of 2018More details → | No minimum capital; no registration fee, but a US$350 licence on registration and every year; first approval typically within 3 to 5 working days | A council of two, a guardian for a charitable or specified non-charitable object; a public register without natural persons' nationality and address; 3 years to challenge |
| ADGM (Abu Dhabi): Foundations Regulations 2017 | US$100 of initial assets; filed through an ADGM-licensed company service provider; the by-laws are not publicly disclosed | At least one founder and two council members, and an authorised signatory who is a UAE or GCC national or holds a UAE residence visa |
Fees are the registries' own figures. The registered agent, secretary or council members charge on top, and we fix our fee in writing after a free assessment.
Country by country: fund vehicles and regulators, trusts and foundations.
Fund vehicle and manager, where to domicile the fund, who you need around it, capital, timelines and official fees by country.
Settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiaries, registration and trustee licensing, asset protection rules and the fees of 12 trust jurisdictions.
Trustee discretion, letters of wishes, beneficiaries’ rights, settlor powers and the tax position by jurisdiction.
Six features settle most choices. Each cell gives the rule and the law that sets it, using the jurisdictions above.
| Feature | Trust | Foundation |
|---|---|---|
| Legal personality and ownership | None. The trustee holds the assets in its own name for the beneficiaries, apart from its own estate; in Jersey, Guernsey and Malta its personal creditors cannot reach them | A legal person and the owner of its assets: separate from its founder in Guernsey, a juristische Person in Liechtenstein, a body corporate in the DIFC |
| Who runs it | The trustee. A professional trustee needs JFSC registration in Jersey, a GFSC fiduciary licence in Guernsey, MFSA authorisation in Malta or an FMA licence in Liechtenstein; an unpaid family trustee does not (in Malta, within the art. 43A conditions) | A council: two members in Liechtenstein and Guernsey, three in Panama unless a legal person serves, one in the Isle of Man; Jersey's includes a qualified member |
| What is filed and what is public | Jersey and Guernsey: nothing to file under the trust law. Malta: beneficial owners declared to the MFSA within 14 days, not public. Liechtenstein: a register entry or a deposited deed within 30 days | Jersey: charter and abridged regulations public. Guernsey: councillors, guardian and office public, the rest private. Isle of Man: the instrument is public. Liechtenstein: a founding notice closed to third parties |
| Founder's or settlor's control | Reservable powers are listed in the law: revoking, varying, directing investments, appointing or removing trustees (Jersey Art. 9A, Guernsey s. 15); Malta's art. 14A covers appointing or removing trustees, protectors and beneficiaries and appointing an investment adviser or manager | Only what the charter grants. A Liechtenstein founder may reserve revocation and amendment, not assignable or inheritable; Guernsey and the DIFC limit a founder's powers to amend or end the foundation to his life or, for a company, 50 years |
| Beneficiaries' rights | Enforceable in court: in Jersey a beneficiary sues for breach within 3 years of the final accounts or of learning of it, 21 years at most; a Liechtenstein private-benefit trust names a person entitled to information | Only what the law and the charter give: no interest in the assets in Jersey and the Isle of Man, a court claim for a benefit due within 3 years; Guernsey splits enfranchised from disenfranchised beneficiaries |
| Duration and firewall | Unlimited in Jersey and Guernsey, 125 years in Malta unless charitable; Jersey and Guernsey disregard foreign heirship rights and refuse inconsistent foreign judgments, but keep the courts' powers against fraud on creditors | 125 years in Malta unless public benefit, no statutory cap in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man; Jersey, Guernsey and Panama shut out foreign heirship rules, while Liechtenstein's Art. 552 has no such clause |
Answer these and the instrument often picks itself. Once the people and the assets are clear, two or three jurisdictions are usually left.
The trust and foundation laws, fee schedules and registry pages behind every figure on this page.
Laws, fees and registry deadlines in force on 4 November 2026. If a registry or regulator changes a figure, its own text linked here prevails.
Who should benefit, where everyone lives, what the assets are and what the structure has to survive: a death, a divorce, the sale of the business.
We compare the two instruments, and two or three jurisdictions, against those answers and give the reasons in writing.
A trustee (licensed, if it is a professional), or council members with a guardian, protector or enforcer, plus the registered agent, qualified member or secretary the law requires.
A trust deed and a letter of wishes, or a charter and regulations; a public deed in Malta, a charter protocolised by a notary in Panama.
Registration, deposit or nothing at all, as each law says, plus beneficial ownership declarations where they apply, such as the 14 days Malta gives a trustee.
Annual returns and fees, accounts to beneficiaries where the law or the charter requires them, and changes filed on time: within 21 days in Guernsey, and in Jersey within the 21 days in which the JFSC records a charter change free of charge.
This market is full of intermediaries selling one product because it is the one they sell. We work both sides of the section. Regulated funds and private structures, which is why we can tell you that the thing you asked for is not the thing you need, and then build the one that is.
Fund lawyers and private-client lawyers in the same firm, so the answer to fund or trust is argued from your facts rather than from what we happen to sell.
Before you pay anyone, you get a written view of what the structure does, where its limits run, and what it will not protect you from.
The quote you approve is the price you pay. State, regulator, trustee, administrator and audit fees are stated separately and upfront.
Offering documents, fund rules and risk frameworks drafted to the regulator's standards; deeds, letters of wishes and beneficiary classes drafted for the family as it will become, not as it is today.
Renewals, annual returns, audited statements, TUBOR and IRD filings, trustee changes and restructuring. Including migrating a structure that has outgrown the one it started in.
15 years in FinTech and asset structuring. Decides with you whether the answer is a fund or a private structure, then maps it to a domicile and leads the file to the regulator's decision.
Builds the structure itself: the local vehicle, the AML/KYC policy pack, capital and service-provider contracts, fund documentation and tax registrations. His document sets are the reason reviews finish in months, not years.
First point of contact for international founders and families. Runs the whole set-up remotely, across time zones and languages - from the first call to a live fund or an executed deed.
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Ownership. In a trust the settlor transfers assets to a trustee, who holds them for the beneficiaries under a deed; the trust itself has no legal personality. A foundation is a legal person that owns its assets, is run by a council (in some laws, by officers) and leaves the founder only the rights its charter grants. Everything else follows: who signs for the assets, who answers to whom, what goes on a register.
Yes. Liechtenstein's PGR calls it a juristische Person, Malta grants legal personality on registration, and in Panama entry in the Public Registry gives it legal personality with no other authorisation. The DIFC law defines it as a body corporate separate from its founders. A typical Liechtenstein private-benefit foundation is a legal person without any register entry: the founder's declaration establishes it, and its council then deposits a founding notice within 30 days.
Neither puts assets beyond creditors' reach, and several of these laws say how a transfer can be attacked. Liechtenstein lets the founder's heirs and creditors challenge an endowment like a gift; Panama gives defrauded creditors 3 years, Seychelles 2; in Nevis a creditor must prove intent to defraud beyond reasonable doubt. The Jersey and Guernsey trust laws keep the courts' powers against fraud on creditors. Firewall clauses block something else: foreign heirship claims and foreign judgments that ignore the local law.
All 14 on this page. We compare trust against foundation in Jersey, Guernsey, Liechtenstein and Malta, and look at the foundation law alone in Panama, the Isle of Man, the Bahamas, Seychelles, Labuan, Mauritius, the DIFC and ADGM; the Cayman Islands offer a foundation company and Nevis a multiform foundation, though both have trust laws as well. In Europe, Liechtenstein's Stiftung sits in the PGR of 1926 and Malta's foundation in its Civil Code.
Registry fees are small: £205 to incorporate in Jersey within 5 business days, £100 in Guernsey within 24 hours, £100 in the Isle of Man within 48 hours, US$200 in Seychelles, MUR 9,000 in Mauritius, CHF 300 for a Liechtenstein founding notice. The DIFC charges nothing to register but US$350 a year for the licence. The minimum assets, from nothing to CHF 30,000 in Liechtenstein, and the council or agent cost more, and a Liechtenstein foundation taxed as a private asset structure pays CHF 1,800 a year. Our own fee comes in writing, after a free assessment of your case.
Within limits the law sets. A Liechtenstein founder may reserve the right to revoke the foundation or amend its declaration, but cannot assign or bequeath it, and a company that founds one cannot reserve it at all. Guernsey and the DIFC accept a founder's powers to amend, revoke or end the foundation only if the charter sets them out in full, for the founder's life or, for a corporate founder, 50 years. The founder may sit on the council in Panama and Guernsey and be an administrator in Malta; in Seychelles he may be a councillor, never the only one.
Only those the law and the charter give them. In Jersey a beneficiary has no interest in the assets and no right to information unless the charter or regulations grant one, but can ask the Royal Court for a benefit that is due within 3 years of learning of it. Guernsey gives enfranchised beneficiaries the constitution and the accounts, disenfranchised ones nothing. Liechtenstein lets a beneficiary inspect the deed as far as his rights go, unless the founder reserved revocation and is the final beneficiary or the foundation is under STIFA supervision; a control body set up by the founder narrows the right.
Malta caps both at 125 years, with exceptions such as charitable trusts and public benefit foundations. Jersey trusts may continue for an unlimited period, and Guernsey's law sets no limit. Foundations in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have no statutory maximum: they end on an event or after a period only if the charter or rules say so. A Liechtenstein deed states a duration only when the foundation is limited in time.
Liechtenstein asks for CHF 30,000 of capital and a council of two, one of them licensed under the Trustee Act or the Art. 180a Act; a private-benefit foundation deposits a founding notice within 30 days, and third parties get no more than an official confirmation of basic data. Panama asks for B/.10,000, a council of three unless a legal person sits on it, a Panamanian lawyer as resident agent and an entry in the Public Registry, which makes the charter known to third parties. Its law adds that the heirship rules of the founder's or the beneficiaries' home cannot be raised against the foundation.
Both can hold the shares; the difference is who sits in the chair. A foundation can put the founder in charge: on the council in Panama and Guernsey, among the administrators in Malta. Under a trust the trustee holds the shares, and the settlor steers through reserved powers, such as directing the appointment or removal of the company's officers under Jersey Art. 9A. In Liechtenstein one council member must hold a licence under the Trustee Act or the Art. 180a Act, so a family council always works with a licensed professional.
Tell us who should benefit, where the family lives, what the assets are and how much control you want to keep. Our legal team replies in writing with the instrument, two or three jurisdictions, the official fees and our fixed fee.
