Commercial Star Trusts

Uses Of Star Trusts For Holding Shares In Corporate Entities

The Special Trusts (Alternative Regime) Law, 1997 (the "STAR Law") was introduced in late 1997 and is now incorporated into Part VIII of the Trusts Law (2001 Revision). The idea of the law was to create an alternative regime under which a trust for non-charitable purposes could be created.

The law does not affect existing ordinary trusts or powers and for the STAR Law to be applicable to a trust it must be expressly stated within the Trust Deed. A trust set-up under the STAR Law is commonly referred to as a "STAR Trust". Objects of a STAR Trust can be persons or purposes (charitable and/or non-charitable) or both. The ability to create a STAR Trust for purposes has made STAR Trusts attractive for many types of commercial transactions, particularly in relation to investment funds and structured finance transactions.