How Much Control Can a Settlor Keep?

Many families want a trust without letting go entirely. The question behind settlor reserved powers in Mauritius is practical: which levers can the person who creates the trust keep, and at what point does keeping them undermine the trust itself? The Trusts Act 2001 is fairly open on this point, but it is not a blank cheque, and the answer always depends on the trust deed and the facts.

This page maps the powers a settlor can retain, the conditions attached to each, and the habits that keep a trust credible. For the settlor's role in general, see the settlor's role and limits.

What are reserved powers?

A reserved power is an authority the settlor keeps in the trust deed instead of handing it fully to the trustee. It may be a right to appoint a trustee, to approve an investment, to add a beneficiary, or to revoke the trust. The deed is where each power is created, defined and limited. A power that is not in the deed is not a power the settlor holds.

Reserved powers sit on a spectrum. At one end the settlor keeps a light, supervisory voice. At the other the settlor makes every decision and the trustee only signs. The law tolerates the first and looks hard at the second.

Powers a settlor can retain under the Trusts Act 2001

The Act lets the settlor wear several hats. Under section 8 of the Trusts Act 2001, a settlor may also be a trustee, a beneficiary, a protector or an enforcer. The one firm limit is that the settlor cannot be the sole beneficiary of the trust they created.

The table below sets out the main levers and what the sources support.

The protector route

The most common way to keep influence is to be named protector. Section 24 describes the protector as someone who advises the trustee, and, unless the deed states otherwise, may revoke and appoint trustees, fix the governing law, change the place of administration and refuse consent to certain acts. A protector does not become a trustee by doing so.

This is why a settlor-protector is such a sensitive combination. The settlor does not hold the assets, yet can reshape who does. Our pages on the powers of a protector and on whether the settlor can be the protector go further into that choice.

Revocation

By default, section 11 presumes the trust cannot be revoked by the settlor or the settlor's legal representative. A settlor who wants a way out must have an express revocation clause in the deed. That clause is a major reserved power, and it changes how the trust is read: assets that can be taken back at will look much closer to the settlor's own. The comparison between revocable and irrevocable trusts explains the trade-off.

Being a beneficiary

A settlor may benefit from the trust, for example under a discretionary trust where the trustee decides who receives what. The limit is that the settlor cannot be the only person who benefits. A trust that exists for the settlor alone is, in substance, the settlor holding their own property.

A simple way to think about control

Where control becomes a problem

A trust works because the trustee holds legal ownership and exercises real judgement. Three warning signs recur.

• The trustee acts on instruction. If the trustee never decides anything independently, the trust risks looking like an agency rather than a trust. The separate page on sham trusts covers what courts do in that situation.
• The settlor keeps every lever. A power to revoke, a power to remove the trustee at will, a power to direct each investment and a role as main beneficiary, all at once, leaves little for the trust to do. Each power may be valid alone; the combination is what draws scrutiny.
• Paper and practice differ. A deed that gives the trustee discretion, run in a way that ignores it, is a weak deed.

Retained control also has consequences beyond validity. Creditors, divorcing spouses and tax authorities all ask how much the settlor really controls. See trusts and creditors and protecting trust assets from divorce for how that plays out.

Control and transparency

Control is never invisible. Under the FIAMLA 2002, in the version updated by the Financial Intelligence Unit in 2026, the beneficial owner of a trust-type legal arrangement includes the settlor, the trustee, any protector, each beneficiary (or the class of beneficiaries and the objects of a power), and any other individual exercising ultimate effective control, including through a chain of control. A settlor who keeps meaningful powers is therefore identified as a beneficial owner and should expect that to be recorded.

Other record-keeping duties point the same way:

• Under section 38(3) of the Trusts Act 2001, the trustee keeps up-to-date accounts and documents, and an alphabetical register of the names and last known addresses of each beneficiary and settlor. Accounting records are kept for at least 5 years after the operations concerned are completed.
• Under section 26A of the Financial Services Act 2007 (consolidated version of 1 September 2026), the FSC keeps a register of domestic trusts and of foreign trusts with at least one qualified trustee. It includes the identity and addresses of settlors, protectors, enforcers, trustees and beneficiaries, as well as the governing law and place of administration. The qualified trustee must supply the required information in the form and time set by the FSC.
• The FSC also publishes Practice Notes for qualified trustees and corporate service providers on keeping beneficial ownership information current.

For the register itself, see Is there a register of trusts in Mauritius?.

Guidance without binding powers

Not every wish needs to be a legal power. A letter of wishes lets the settlor tell the trustee how they would like discretion to be used, without turning that preference into an order. It is a flexible, quiet form of influence, and many families find it enough. The trustee must still weigh it and decide. Because it stays outside the deed, the letter can be updated as the family changes.

Choosing between a power and a wish

Questions worth asking when a power is proposed:

1. Is the power essential, or would a wish achieve the same aim?
2. Who can use it, and can anyone challenge its use?
3. What happens to it if the settlor loses capacity or dies? See what happens when the settlor dies.
4. Does it change how third parties, such as banks or tax authorities, view the trust?
5. Does it overlap with another role, such as protector or beneficiary?

Checklist before signing the deed

• List every power the settlor wants to keep and the reason for each
• Check that the deed expressly states any right to revoke
• Confirm the settlor is not the sole beneficiary
• Decide whether the settlor will be protector, and define the protector's powers
• Make sure a qualified trustee remains in office
• Separate powers of consent from powers of direction
• Record who may exercise each power if the settlor cannot
• Prepare a non-binding letter of wishes for matters better left flexible
• Ask an adviser how the powers affect succession, divorce and tax in the settlor's home country

Foreign settlors and foreign trusts

A transfer by a non-citizen settlor cannot be set aside under the succession rules of that person's domicile or nationality, under section 8 of the Trusts Act 2001. That is not a licence to over-reserve powers, since a court looking at control still examines the facts. For a trust governed by foreign law, section 60 says it is governed by its own terms and law, but is not enforceable in Mauritius where it would amount to an offence, be contrary to public policy or apply directly to immovable property in Mauritius. See choosing the governing law for the wider picture.