Mauritius Trust Law: How It Works for Families

Mauritius trust law is a statutory framework built around the Trusts Act 2001, supported by the Financial Services Act 2007, the Foundations Act 2012, anti-money-laundering legislation and the Income Tax Act. For a family, the practical question is simple: if assets are placed in a trust, who is bound to do what, who can enforce it, and which rules apply when something goes wrong? This page gives the overview. It is general information, not advice, and the answer for any given family depends on its own facts, its residence and the wording of its trust deed.

Where a topic has its own page, you will find a link to it. The aim here is to show how the pieces fit together before you read the detail.

Trust law in Mauritius: the sources of law

No single text contains everything. A Mauritian trust sits at the meeting point of several instruments, each answering a different question.

The hierarchy matters. The statute sets the framework, mandatory rules prevail over the deed, and the deed governs what remains. If you are reading a deed, you are reading the third layer, not the first.

The Trusts Act 2001 (Act 14 of 2001) came into force on 1 December 2001. The consolidation published by the FSC lists later amendments, including Acts 20/11, 27/12 and 9/19, the last of which took effect on 29 May 2019. It also contains cross-references to a 2023 amendment (Act 20 of 2023, effect 29 March 2024) in the definition of "financial crime". The law has therefore been adjusted several times, and a deed drafted years ago should be read against the current text. A fuller walk through the Act itself is on the page The Trusts Act explained.

How a trust is recognised under Mauritian law

A trust in Mauritius is recognised because the Trusts Act says so and because the parties meet its conditions. It is not a company and has no legal personality of its own. The assets are held by the trustee, who is the legal owner, but they are held for the beneficiaries or for a lawful purpose and are kept distinct from the trustee's own estate.

Recognition has three practical layers.

1. Validity of the trust itself

The settlor transfers assets to a trustee on terms recorded in a deed. The Act then attaches consequences to those terms. A trust is presumed to be irrevocable by the settlor and the settlor's legal representative unless the deed expressly provides a power of revocation (section 11). That presumption is one of the features that separates a Mauritian trust from an arrangement that the settlor can simply undo at will. The comparison is developed on the page revocable vs irrevocable trust.

The settlor may also be a trustee, a beneficiary, a protector or an enforcer, but may not be the sole beneficiary of the trust created (section 8). In addition, where the settlor is not a Mauritian citizen, the transfer cannot be set aside under the succession rules of the settlor's domicile or nationality. This is the statutory basis for what practitioners call firewall protection. Its scope and limits are discussed separately, and nothing in it makes a trust immune from challenge in every circumstance.

2. Qualified trustees

The Act uses the notion of a "qualified trustee". Under section 2, this is an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) or any other person resident in Mauritius who is authorised by the FSC to provide trustee services. The Financial Services Act 2007 requires a person who wishes to act as a corporate trustee or qualified trustee to apply to the FSC for a management licence.

A trust may have up to four trustees, and at least one must be a qualified trustee at all times (section 28). The same section is careful on one point: a trust does not become invalid or lapse merely because it lacks a trustee or a qualified trustee. The trust survives the gap, but the gap still has to be filled. Who the professional trustees are and how they are selected is a topic for other sites in the network; this page only needs the legal role.

3. Registration and records

Recognition also has a regulatory side. Section 26A of the Financial Services Act 2007 requires the FSC to keep a register of domestic trusts and of foreign trusts that have at least one qualified trustee. The register includes, among other things:

• the name and characteristics of the trust;
• the trust deed and any amendments;
• the identity and addresses of the beneficiaries, trustees, settlors, protectors and enforcers;
• the purpose, governing law and place of administration of the trust;
• the service providers involved.

The qualified trustee must supply the information and documents the FSC needs to keep that register, in the form and within the time the FSC sets. The FSC may also inspect the qualified trustee and have the information verified at the trustee's expense. The consolidated Act notes that section 26A(2) was amended by Act 13 of 2026, effective 1 September 2026, which repealed paragraph (g) of the list of recorded information. The register is a regulatory record, not a public notice board; the page Is there a register of trusts in Mauritius? explains what that does and does not mean.

The parties and what the law gives them

The easiest way to understand the rights and duties is to look at each party in turn.

The settlor

The settlor creates the trust and decides its terms. The Act allows the settlor to keep several roles, but the sole-beneficiary rule and the presumption of irrevocability mark the limits. How much control a settlor can retain without undermining the trust is a recurring question in practice; the page The settlor: role and limits goes through it. A settlor who keeps too much control invites the argument that the trust is a sham, which is why drafting choices matter.

The trustee

The trustee holds legal title and administers the assets according to the deed and the Act. Section 38(3) requires the trustee to keep up-to-date accounts and records, and an alphabetical register of the names and last known addresses of each beneficiary and settlor. This applies even to a non-resident foreign trust that the trustee administers. Accounting records must be kept for at least five years after the completion of the transactions to which they relate.

Section 33, rewritten by Act 9/19 with effect from 29 May 2019, makes the trustee a keeper of confidences. Information about the trust stays confidential, and a court orders disclosure only on the application of an investigating authority that needs the information, in good faith, for an investigation or proceedings relating to financial crime. The consequence for families is that confidentiality is real but conditional, as the page Are Mauritius trusts confidential? sets out.

The protector

Section 24 allows the deed to provide for a protector: an adult, who may be the settlor, or a legal person, whose function is to advise the trustee. Unless the deed says otherwise, the protector may remove and appoint trustees, change the governing law, change the place of administration and withhold consent to certain acts. The protector does not become a trustee by doing so. The protector's powers are therefore as wide or as narrow as the deed makes them, and the powers should be read carefully before a family relies on this office. See Powers of a trust protector for the detail.

The enforcer

An enforcer matters in a purpose trust, where no beneficiary exists to hold the trustee to account. Section 21 prevents the same person from being both trustee and enforcer of the same trust. The enforcer is entitled to the annual accounts of the trust, a copy of the deed and the legal advice received by the trustees.

The beneficiaries

Beneficiaries are the people for whom the assets are held. The Act's mechanisms for them include the trustee's duty to record their details, the right of an enforcer or beneficiary to challenge a breach, and the protective provisions described below. Section 18 recognises the protective or spendthrift trust: a beneficiary's interest can be made subject to termination, restraint on alienation or suspension if the beneficiary becomes insolvent or if the beneficiary's property is seized. The deed decides whether this is used, and it is worth thinking about for heirs who may face financial difficulty.

Duration and accumulation

Section 9 fixes the maximum duration of a trust other than a purpose trust at 99 years from its creation, unless it ends earlier. A purpose trust, whether charitable or not, may last indefinitely under section 9(2), a provision introduced by Act 20/11 and in force since 16 July 2011. Income accumulation is permitted for the whole maximum life of the trust under section 10, but it may not exceed 25 years where the trust holds immovable property located in Mauritius.

For a family trust, that is a long horizon, sometimes longer than anyone alive at the start. The deed should still state clear end-points and a plan for what happens to remaining assets. The page How long can a Mauritius trust last? covers this in detail.

Purpose trusts and charitable trusts

Section 19 validates a purpose trust without any beneficiary, provided that:

• the purpose is specific, reasonable, achievable and lawful;
• the deed names an enforcer and a successor enforcer;
• at least one trustee is a qualified trustee; and
• the deed says what happens to surplus assets when the trust ends.

Two restrictions deserve attention. First, the transfer of immovable property located in Mauritius to a non-charitable purpose trust is null and void (section 19(3)). Second, a purpose trust created by a Mauritian national is void unless the FSC approves the appointment of the enforcer and the named successor (section 19(6)). The approvals concerned (codes TAC-1.2 and TAC-1.3 in the FSC fee schedule effective 1 July 2026) carry no processing fee.

If the enforcer has died, refuses to act or can no longer act, the qualified trustee must inform the Attorney-General in writing. The Attorney-General then appoints, within 90 days, the successor named in the deed or, failing that, a suitable person (section 19(4)–(5)).

Section 20 treats a trust as charitable when its exclusive object is one of the following: relief of poverty, education, religion, protection of the environment, human rights and fundamental freedoms, or any other purpose beneficial to the public. A charitable trust can be discretionary and may pursue its aims in Mauritius or elsewhere. Charitable structures are otherwise outside the scope of this site, and families whose main goal is to pass wealth to relatives will usually work with ordinary beneficiary trusts instead.

Foreign trusts and cross-border families

Many families who look at Mauritius are not Mauritian residents, and the law anticipates this. Section 60 provides that a foreign trust is governed by its own terms and its own law. It is, however, not enforceable in Mauritius to the extent that enforcement would involve a criminal offence, would be contrary to public policy or would apply directly to immovable property situated in Mauritius. The Act also extends the trustee's record-keeping duty to a non-resident foreign trust that a Mauritian trustee administers. A fuller explanation is on the page How Mauritius recognises foreign trusts.

For a family living in another country, this means two legal systems matter: the law that governs the trust, and the law of the place where each family member lives and where the assets are located. Mauritian trust law does not remove the effect of the rules of those other places. It is a reason to take advice in each country concerned.

Transparency and anti-money-laundering rules

The regulatory environment has become a core part of trust law in practice, and it shapes the experience of any family that opens a structure.

Beneficial ownership. Under the Financial Services Act, section 29, every licensee must keep a register of the beneficial owners of each of its clients (Act 11/18, in force since 1 October 2018). Every qualified trustee must keep a register of each trust it administers, available to the FSC on request (paragraph 5(aa), inserted by Act 11/24, in force since 1 August 2024). These obligations cover existing clients and trusts as well as new ones.

Who counts as a beneficial owner. In the FIAMLA 2002, as updated in the FIU's 2026 version, the beneficial owner of a trust-type legal arrangement includes the settlor, the trustee, the protector if any, each beneficiary (or the class of beneficiaries and the objects of a power), and any other natural person exercising ultimate effective control, including through a chain of control. A family should therefore expect that the settlor, protector and beneficiaries will each be identified.

Declaring trustee status. Under section 17C(5A) of the FIAMLA, a trustee of an express trust must disclose that capacity to a reporting person, such as a bank, when establishing a business relationship or carrying out an occasional transaction of at least Rs 500 000 or the foreign-currency equivalent (a provision dating from Act 9/2019).

Reporting persons. Entities acting as qualified trustees under the Trusts Act are reporting persons. They must apply customer due diligence (CDD) measures and report suspicious transactions. Knowingly providing false CDD information is punishable by a fine of up to Rs 500 000 and imprisonment for up to 5 years.

FSC guidance. The FSC publishes Practice Notes for qualified trustees and for FSC-licensed corporate service providers (Management Licence) that provide corporate trusteeship services. They explain how beneficial ownership information is to be maintained and updated: the settlor, trustee, protector, enforcer, beneficiaries and any person with effective control.

In practice, this means a family should be ready to supply identification and source-of-funds documents, and to update them when circumstances change. Seen from the family's side, these rules are less an obstacle than the price of using a regulated structure.

Tax: where trust law meets the Income Tax Act

Tax is treated in depth on the page How trusts are taxed in Mauritius, but the legal framework needs a short summary here because it changed materially in recent years.

According to the Income Tax Act 1995, consolidated up to the Finance Act 2026, a trust is chargeable on its taxable income at the Part IV rate of the First Schedule, which is 15%. Section 46(4) deems any distribution to a beneficiary to be a dividend in the hands of the beneficiary; the former paragraphs 5 and 6, on deducting distributed income and exempting a non-resident beneficiary, have been deleted.

The Finance Act 2021 repealed section 46(3), the exemption for a non-resident trust that filed a declaration of non-residence within a set period after the end of the income year. The repeal is deemed to take effect on 1 July 2021, and the exemption no longer exists in the version consolidated up to the Finance Act 2026. Section 46(2) still describes a trust whose settlor is non-resident (or holds a Global Business Licence) and whose beneficiaries are all non-resident (or hold a Global Business Licence), or a purpose trust whose purpose is carried out outside Mauritius. Such a trust is, however, taxed at the same Part IV rate of 15%.

A Foundation is taxed similarly under section 49A: its taxable income is chargeable at the Part IV rate of 15%, and a distribution to a beneficiary is treated as a dividend. The Finance Act 2021 also repealed sections 49A(2) and (3), the exemption for a Foundation whose founder and beneficiaries are all non-resident or hold a Global Business Licence, again deemed effective 1 July 2021.

Older marketing material, and older articles, may describe exemptions that have since been repealed. A rule that applied some years ago is not a rule you can rely on now, and no description of the law can replace a computation made on the facts of your own situation.

Foundations: the neighbouring regime

Families often meet trusts and foundations in the same conversation. The Foundations Act 2012 creates a separate vehicle, with legal personality, governed by a Council. Under section 17, the Council must include at least one member who is habitually resident in Mauritius. Minors, bankrupts, persons convicted of fraud or dishonesty, and the officers of the Foundation or their close relatives cannot sit on it. Registration is requested from the Registrar on an approved form (section 23), accompanied by the list of first officers, a declaration from a law practitioner, legal consultant or firm confirming compliance with the Act, a declaration of accuracy by the applicant and the scheduled fees.

The FIAMLA includes the Foundation within the definition of "legal person" and names the Registrar of Foundations among the relevant authorities, so beneficial ownership transparency obligations apply to it. The detail of the regime is on The Foundations Act explained; the question of which vehicle fits a family is covered in Trust vs foundation.

What trust law does not do

A realistic reading of the framework also includes its limits.

• It does not replace succession law. Questions about reserved shares for children are dealt with on the page forced heirship and trusts, and the answer turns on the law that applies to the estate as well as on the trust.
• It does not shield a structure that is a pretence. A trust that the settlor in reality still controls, or that does not reflect genuine transfer, may be set aside.
• It does not remove regulatory duties. Reporting, registration and CDD apply throughout the life of the trust.
• It does not give a fixed tax result. The tax position depends on residence, on the type of income and on the rules in force when income arises.
• It does not work without maintenance. A deed that is never reviewed, with a protector who has left or a trustee who has changed, can drift away from the family's intentions.

A short checklist for reading your own position

Use this list as a starting point for a discussion with an adviser, not as a substitute for one.

• Identify which law governs the trust and where its administration takes place
• Confirm that at least one qualified trustee is in office
• Check whether the deed allows revocation, and whether the presumption of irrevocability applies
• Read the powers given to any protector and enforcer
• Confirm that records of settlors and beneficiaries are kept up to date
• Review how the trust, and each distribution, is taxed in every country concerned
• Note the maximum duration and any accumulation limit that applies
• Review the arrangements after any change in family circumstances

If you would like your situation looked at, you can send a request through the contact form, which is relayed to an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence).