Antigua International Trust Formation: A Guide for Asset Protection and Estate Planning

What if you could protect your family's wealth for up to 200 years with an Antigua offshore trust? You move assets to a local trustee, who holds them for the people you choose. Antigua's law sets short time limits for creditor claims and refuses to enforce foreign court orders against the fund. Registered arrangements pay no local income tax on money earned abroad. You also get a stable, English-speaking base for estate and succession planning, and a way to spread your wealth across borders. Here's how it works, what it costs, and where its limits are.

What Is an Antigua Offshore Trust?

You, the settlor, sign a deed of settlement with a trustee. You move property to the arrangement. The trustee then holds and manages it for the benefit of your beneficiaries. If you're new to this, our guide on how trusts work covers the basics.

The governing law is the International Trust Act, 2007 (No. 18 of 2007). It replaced the 2004 law, which it repealed in section 94. Some older guides, including an earlier version of this page, still describe the 2004 Act as current law. It is not, and every rule on this page comes from the 2007 Act. The Financial Services Regulatory Commission (FSRC) registers every arrangement made under the 2007 Act.

Here's something unusual. Once the deed is signed, the arrangement is registered and property is transferred, the Act treats it as a separate legal entity. The property leaves your estate for good. It belongs to the arrangement, not to you or the trustee.

Why Choose Antigua?

Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation in the Eastern Caribbean. It's part of the Commonwealth, and English is the official language. Its courts follow English common law principles, which feels familiar if you come from the UK, the US or Canada.

A few more reasons clients pick this jurisdiction:

• Stable money. The local currency, the Eastern Caribbean dollar, has had a fixed peg of EC$2.70 to US$1 since 7 July 1976. It's shared with Anguilla, Grenada, St. Lucia and other Eastern Caribbean states.
• A long track record. Antigua has been an offshore financial centre since its company law of 1982. Today the FSRC supervises the sector under its own 2013 Act.
• A clean international record. Antigua is off both EU tax lists, was rated "Largely Compliant" by the OECD in January 2026, and is not on the FATF grey list. The 2026 section below has the details.
• A modern framework. The 2007 Act was written with asset protection and estate planning in mind.

Antigua's financial system is regulated, not secret. If you want clear rules and strong protection tools, it's a solid fit.

What Are the Key Features at a Glance?

Here's a quick summary of the main rules under the 2007 Act.

Strong Protection Features Work in Your Favour

The 2007 Act gives you strong legal tools. Each has limits, so read the risks section too. For the bigger picture, see our asset protection strategies.

• Short time limits. A creditor must sue within 1 year of you signing the deed, or within 2 years after their claim arose, whichever comes first. Claims that arise after you sign generally can't be brought against the fund at all.
• A high bar for fraud claims. Only a creditor holding a judgment from Antigua's High Court counts. The court weighs whether you moved assets only to dodge that existing judgment, whether you had no legitimate purpose, and whether you were insolvent at the time, and each factor must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Showing a legitimate purpose is a complete defence. Even then, the creditor can only recover the value they had in the property before it moved.
• A US$200,000 cost bond. Outsiders who sue the fund must first lodge a US$200,000 undertaking for legal costs, or another amount the court sets. Lawyers can't take these cases on a contingency fee.
• Foreign judgments don't count. Trustees must not act on foreign court orders, and Antiguan courts won't enforce them against the fund. Instructions given under duress are ignored too.
• Bankruptcy doesn't undo it. The arrangement isn't void just because you later go bankrupt or become insolvent.
• A built-in flee clause. Unless the deed says otherwise, the trustee can move the property, change where it's run, or switch the governing law to protect it.
• Spendthrift protection. A beneficiary can't sell or pledge their interest in advance, and their creditors can't seize it.
• Heirship shield. Antiguan courts won't hear claims based on forced heirship, community property, or spousal and family rights, unless the deed allows them.
• Private hearings. Court cases about the arrangement are heard in private by default, and published rulings are redacted.

Want help building a plan around these tools? Read about our asset protection planning.

Who's Involved, and What Does Each Role Do?

Four parties can play a part. Here's who does what.

You, the Settlor

The settlor creates the arrangement and gives it property. That's you. You can also be a beneficiary, even the only one. But you must give up control. You can't keep the power to direct the trustee, revoke the deed or amend it. You also can't serve as trustee or protector yourself.

Being domiciled in Antigua would disqualify you. You and your beneficiaries must all be non-residents of Antigua. You can guide the trustee with a letter of wishes, which you can update over time.

Once it's registered, the arrangement can't be revoked by you. The trustee may revoke it only in two cases: if all living settlors ask in writing, or if the fund is worth less than US$40,000.

The Trustee

Trustees hold and run the property. You can have one to four. At least one must be domiciled in Antigua, but the others can live anywhere. That's the only residency requirement, and it falls on the trustee, not on you. In practice, the local trustee is usually a licensed trust company, because an unlicensed company can act for no more than three arrangements.

Trustees owe a fiduciary duty to the arrangement, to you and to your beneficiaries, and must manage the property like a reasonably prudent business person. They must keep the property separate and never commingle it with their own assets. They keep accounts and give beneficiaries yearly accounts checked by an independent auditor. A trustee can't also be a beneficiary.

The Protector

A protector is optional. The deed sets their powers. Usually that means approving or blocking the trustee's decisions, or appointing and removing trustees. A protector isn't a trustee, but still owes a duty to the fund and its beneficiaries.

The Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries are the people who gain from the fund. You can name them or describe a class, like "my grandchildren." Unless the deed says otherwise, the trustee can add or remove beneficiaries. An arrangement can even have no beneficiaries at all if it serves a clear, stated purpose.

How Do You Set One Up? Seven Simple Steps

1. Book a consultation. Tell us your goals, your family situation and where you pay tax.
2. Pass the checks. The trustee runs due diligence on you and on where your money comes from. Expect to provide identity documents, proof of address and evidence of your source of funds. The trustee will confirm its exact list.
3. Choose your team. Pick your local trustee, any extra trustees and a protector.
4. Draft the deed of settlement. It names the purpose, the trustee and the beneficiaries, and sets out everyone's powers. It must be signed before two witnesses or a notary.
5. Register with the FSRC. The trustee files the application, a trustee certificate and the fee within the statutory 45-day window. Documents not in English need a certified translation. On approval, the FSRC confirms issuance of a Certificate of Registration to the trustee.
6. Fund it. You transfer cash, investments or company shares to the arrangement.
7. Keep it current. Registration lasts one year, so it's renewed each year. Any change to the deed must be lodged with the FSRC within 10 days.

Notice what's missing. There's no incorporation, no board and no registered agent. The registered office is simply the local trustee's address. The name must end with the word "Trust" or its equivalent. Earlier versions of this page described a Certificate of Incorporation, a Memorandum and Articles, and an annual financial return to the FSRC. None of these apply to a trust under the 2007 Act.

What Does It Cost, and How Long Does It Take?

We quote each plan after we review your goals. Costs fall into four parts:

• Our setup fee. Our fee to settle an Antigua trust, covering the consultation, trustee selection, deed drafting and FSRC filing, is US$3,500.
• Government fees. The FSRC charges a registration fee and a yearly renewal fee. The Minister of Finance sets these by regulation, and we confirm the current amounts for your case.
• Trustee fees. Trustees can charge their usual professional fees each year. These vary by trustee and by what the arrangement holds, and we confirm them in your written quote.
• Audit. The Act requires yearly accounts checked by an independent auditor, so budget for that too.

On timing, the trustee has 45 days from signing the deed to apply for registration, and the FSRC can extend that once by 45 days. Most of your time goes into checks and drafting, so the full timeline depends on your documents and assets. We'll give you a timeline with your quote.

Planning to hold cash in offshore bank accounts too? That adds time. To open an account, each bank runs its own checks on the fund and on you.

What Will You Owe and Have to File?

What Is Free of Antiguan Tax?

A registered arrangement is exempt from all income tax, including tax on capital gains. It's also free of estate, gift and inheritance tax on its property, stamp duty and exchange controls. So income from foreign sources faces no local tax.

This tax exemption has limits. It doesn't cover income from selling or renting property in Antigua, from selling shares in a local company doing business there, or from doing business there yourself. That income stays under Antigua's ordinary tax rules, which can withhold tax on payments such as a local dividend or royalty to a non-resident. Most arrangements simply keep their investments outside Antigua. For more, see our guide to Antigua's tax system.

None of this cuts your tax at home. Your own country decides how you're taxed. A fund like this is never a tool for tax evasion.

Treaties and Information Exchange

Antigua has a small network of tax treaties, mostly regional, including the CARICOM agreement. There's also an older bilateral arrangement with the UK, summarised by HMRC. There's no income tax treaty with the United States, but the two countries have exchanged tax information under an agreement in force since 10 February 2003. Whether any treaty helps you depends on where you live, so check with your tax adviser.

CRS, FATCA and Home-Country Reporting

Antigua shares account data under the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS), and committed to first exchanges in 2018. Local financial institutions report each year. The Inland Revenue Department issued fresh CRS circulars on 1 October 2025, including one aimed at schemes that try to avoid reporting. Antigua also has a Model 1 FATCA agreement with the US, in force since 7 June 2017.

So expect your home tax office to learn about the fund. US persons, for example, may need to file Form 3520 and make sure the fund files Form 3520-A. FBAR and Form 8938 can apply too. Other countries set their own reporting rules for foreign arrangements, so check yours with a tax adviser. Plan to report it openly. This is just part of following international tax rules.

Thinking About Citizenship by Investment?

Antigua also runs a programme that grants citizenship for an approved investment, managed by a government unit. It's completely separate from your wealth planning. Some clients pair the two, using a second passport for travel and a fund for wealth. Dominica and St. Kitts also offer citizenship by investment. Investment options and fees change often, so see our second citizenship services for current terms.

What Are the Risks and Limits?

No arrangement makes your assets untouchable. Be clear on these limits before you sign:

• Early claims. A creditor who sues inside the time limits and proves fraud can have a transfer set aside. The trustee then pays from the fund.
• You give up control. You can't direct the trustee, revoke or amend. If you need control, this isn't the right tool.
• Home courts. A court at home can't reach the fund directly, but depending on where you live, it may still make orders against you personally.
• Disclosure. The confidentiality rules have exceptions. A court can order disclosure for serious crimes, tax treaty requests, and cases under the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act. Banks can also request identity details for their own due diligence.
• Compliance. Trustees follow anti-money-laundering rules overseen by a Supervisory Authority. They must report suspect transactions. Antigua belongs to the CFATF, a regional body linked to the FATF. Its latest mutual evaluation was adopted in 2018, and later follow-up reports have upgraded several of its ratings.
• Business limits. The fund can't make or sell goods or services anywhere in the Caribbean region, or trade for profit in Antigua. Holding local land needs government approval.
• Missed renewals. If the yearly renewal isn't filed, the Act stops applying 90 days after expiry, or 180 days if the FSRC grants an extension.

The best protection comes from setting up early, before any claim exists, with clean records of where the money came from.

Need a Company Too? Keep It Separate

Many families hold offshore companies under a fund like this. In Antigua, those are IBCs, formed under the Antigua and Barbuda International Business Corporations Act (the IBC Act). Questions about share capital, minimum capital, registered shares and bearer shares belong to the company, not the deed. Your fund can simply be the company's shareholder. Our guide to setting up a company in Antigua and Barbuda covers Antigua offshore company formation, the steps to set one up, and how an LLC compares.

How Does Antigua Compare With Other Jurisdictions?

Antigua's law is built for asset protection. A few features stand out: the arrangement is a separate legal entity, it can run for 200 years, the settlor can be the only beneficiary, and outside claimants must post a US$200,000 cost bond before they sue. If protection is your priority, compare its time limits, proof standard and cost bond with other Caribbean islands and beyond. Our guides cover the Cook Islands, Nevis and Belize. For a Pacific common law option, see New Zealand.

Some clients also look at the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus or Malta. Each follows its own rules on time limits, foreign judgments and tax. Think about where your family lives, where your assets sit and how you'll pass them on. Our estate planning strategies guide can help you weigh it up.

How Are Antigua Offshore Trusts Changing in 2026?

On 21 January 2026, the OECD's Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information published a new review of Antigua. After a reassessment, it rated Antigua "Largely Compliant" with the global standard for exchanging tax information on request. The report was approved in December 2025.

The review noted that Antigua dissolved about 13,200 international business companies in 2024 and 2025 to clean up ownership records. It also now requires those companies to keep accounting records with a local service provider. The EU had already dropped Antigua from its tax blacklist in October 2024, a list agreed by EU member states. Following the new rating, the EU also removed Antigua from its Annex II watch list on 17 February 2026, so it now sits on neither EU list. Antigua is also not on the FATF grey list published in June 2026.

Antigua also signed the addendum to the CRS agreement on 31 March 2026. It brings the updated CRS rules into exchange, widening reporting to e-money and some indirect crypto-asset holdings.

Our take after 25+ years: We've set up trusts for clients since 1996. The plans that hold up best were never built on secrecy. They were funded early, documented well and reported openly. Since the Panama Papers, banks and tax offices ask harder questions, and good paperwork answers them. Antigua's 2026 rating rewards exactly that kind of planning.

What we expect next: With the rapid growth of automatic data sharing, banks will likely ask Antigua structures for more paperwork, not less. We can't say how fast this will happen. But if your records are clean, a better international rating could make banking easier over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How much does an Antigua offshore trust cost?

  It depends on your assets, your beneficiaries and how much yearly work the trustee will do. Expect a setup fee, an FSRC registration fee, a yearly renewal fee, an annual trustee fee and the cost of a yearly independent audit. Trustee and government fees vary, so ask for a written quote that covers each part.

• How long does it take to set up an Antigua offshore trust?

  The trustee must apply to register with the FSRC within 45 days of signing the deed, and the FSRC can extend that once by 45 days. Most of the time goes into background checks and drafting. Funding with property or company shares can take longer.

• What law governs an Antigua offshore trust?

  The International Trust Act, 2007 (No. 18 of 2007). It repealed the 2004 Act, so guides that still cite the 2004 law are out of date. Antigua law governs the arrangement unless the deed chooses another law.

• Does an Antigua offshore trust need a licensed local trustee?

  At least one trustee must always be domiciled in Antigua. A company that isn't licensed as a trust company can act for no more than three arrangements, so in practice most people use a licensed Antiguan trust company. Other trustees can live anywhere.

• Can creditors break an Antigua offshore trust?

  Sometimes, but it's hard. A creditor must sue in Antigua within strict time limits, lodge a US$200,000 undertaking for costs, and prove a fraudulent transfer beyond a reasonable doubt. Foreign judgments are not enforced against the fund. Setting up early, before any claim exists, gives you the best protection.

• Can an Antigua offshore trust be moved to another country?

  Yes. Unless the deed says otherwise, the trustee can move the property, change where it's administered, or switch the governing law to protect it. A foreign trust can also move to Antigua by changing its governing law and registering within 45 days.

• Do I have to report an Antigua offshore trust to my home tax authority?

  Usually, yes. Antigua shares account data under CRS and has a FATCA agreement with the US. Many countries also require you to report foreign arrangements yourself. US persons, for example, may need to file Forms 3520 and 3520-A. Check your own country's rules with a tax adviser.

• Can you be a beneficiary of the arrangement you set up?

  Yes. Antigua's law lets the settlor be a beneficiary, even the only one. But you can't keep control, revoke or amend the deed, or act as trustee or protector.

• How long can the fund last?

  Up to 200 years from registration, or an earlier date set in the deed. The rule against perpetuities doesn't apply. Arrangements for charitable purposes can last indefinitely.

• Is the arrangement listed on a public register?

  No. The FSRC keeps a register with only the name, the local trustee and the registration date. Only the settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiaries can inspect it, though government officers and courts can access it for their duties.

• Do you need to live in Antigua to set one up?

  No. In fact, you can't be domiciled there. Neither the settlor nor any beneficiary may live in Antigua permanently. Only one trustee must be domiciled locally.

• Is Antigua on any tax or money-laundering blacklist?

  No. The EU removed Antigua from its tax blacklist in October 2024 and from its Annex II watch list in February 2026, after the OECD rated it Largely Compliant. Antigua was not on the FATF grey list published in June 2026.

Is Antigua Right for You?

Antigua gives you strong protection tools, a 200-year horizon, no Antiguan tax on foreign income and a stable, English-speaking base. It works best when you set it up early, give up control and report it openly. We've helped clients build plans like this since 1996. Want to see if it fits your goals? Book a consultation with our team today.