The BVI’s New Trust Legislation: Two Years On

Every so often there are historic moments for trust lawyers. One such moment was when Lord Walker handed down the decision of the Privy Council in Schmidt v Rosewood¹ and another was that on which the Cayman Islands’ ‘STAR trusts’ law² came into force. 1 March 2004, the day on which both the Virgin Islands Special Trusts Act, 2003 and the BVI’s Trustee (Amendment) Act, 2003 (the ‘Amendment Act’) came into effect, was another of these momentous occasions.

Both the Virgin Islands Special Trusts Act and the Amendment Act are highly innovative and well thought out statutes dealing with a number of important areas of trust law in which reform was long overdue and, in the intervening two year period, considerable use has been made of the new statutory provisions.