A Trust for a Blended Family

A trust for a blended family answers a familiar worry: after a second marriage, who is looked after first, and who might be left exposed? A new spouse may need a home and an income. Children from a first marriage often need assurance that their share will not drift to a stepfamily. A well-drafted trust can balance both claims in one document, which a simple will or an informal understanding rarely does.

This page follows a typical case, a couple who have remarried, each with children from an earlier union, and shows how the rules of the Trusts Act 2001 apply. It is general information, not advice. The right design depends on your family, your assets, your residence and your matrimonial regime, so it needs a conversation with a qualified adviser.

Why second-marriage estate planning is different

In a first marriage, the default rules of succession usually point in one direction: the surviving spouse and the children share the estate. In a second marriage, the same rules can produce results nobody intended. Assets left outright to a new spouse can later pass to that spouse's own relatives, bypassing the first family entirely. The opposite also happens: assets left outright to the children can leave the surviving spouse without a home.

Three tensions recur in practice:

• Timing. The spouse needs support now, the children are often promised the capital later.
• Control. The person who inherits first is not always the person who should decide what happens to the capital.
• Trust between the families. Stepchildren and a stepparent may not share the same view on investment, property use or distributions.

A trust separates these questions. Legal ownership sits with the trustee, benefits are allocated to people according to the deed, and the settlor's wishes continue to operate after death. For the underlying concept, see what a trust is.

Stepchildren and inheritance in Mauritius: the baseline

Anyone planning for stepchildren inheritance in Mauritius should start with the civil-law baseline. Mauritian succession law reserves part of an estate for certain heirs, and the position of a surviving spouse is governed by its own rules and by the matrimonial regime chosen at marriage. A stepchild, by contrast, has no automatic inheritance claim on a stepparent: stepchildren only benefit if the stepparent names them.

That asymmetry is exactly what worries many remarried couples. Your own children are protected by statute, but a stepchild you wish to include is not, and a new spouse's rights may cut across what you intended for your own children. Before drafting anything, read how forced heirship interacts with trusts, the rights of a surviving spouse and how a matrimonial regime shapes what you can actually place in trust.

How a trust can serve both families

A trust is built from a handful of moving parts. In a blended family, each one does specific work.

The settlor and the deed

The settlor creates the trust and decides who benefits and on what terms. Under article 8 of the Trusts Act 2001, a settlor may also act as trustee, beneficiary, protector or enforcer, but cannot be the sole beneficiary of the trust they created. In a blended family this matters: a couple usually structure the trust so the settlor benefits during life while the other family members are named alongside. The same article provides that the transfer of a non-citizen settlor cannot be set aside under the succession rules of that settlor's domicile or nationality, a point that interests families with ties to several countries. The role of the settlor and the limits on retained control deserve careful reading, because too much retained control can weaken the structure.

The trustee

The trustee holds the assets and applies them under the deed. Article 28 of the Trusts Act 2001 limits a trust to 4 trustees at most, including at least one qualified trustee at all times. Under article 2, a qualified trustee is an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence) or another person resident in Mauritius authorised by the FSC to provide trustee services. In a blended family, a professional trustee has a practical advantage: it has no stake in the quarrel. A surviving spouse acting alone as trustee for the settlor's children is a recipe for tension. The duties of a trustee are owed equally to all beneficiaries, whichever family they belong to.

The protector

Article 24 of the Trusts Act 2001 allows the deed to appoint a protector, an adult (including the settlor) or a legal person, who advises 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, without becoming a trustee. For a blended family, a protector can act as a neutral check: someone each side trusts to step in if the trustee loses the family's confidence. See what a trust protector does.

The beneficiaries

A trust can name individuals, classes of persons, or both. The deed may give the spouse an interest in income while preserving the capital for the children. That particular arrangement has its own page on life interest trusts, so it is not repeated here. What matters for a blended family is that the rights of each group are written precisely: who receives what, when, and who decides if circumstances change. For the legal position of those named, see beneficiaries' rights and expectations.

Choosing the shape of the benefits

There is no single blended-family trust. The common choices are compared below.

A discretionary trust is often favoured where family relationships may change, but flexibility is only as reliable as the trustee. A letter of wishes lets the settlor explain intentions, such as keeping the family home available to the spouse, without freezing them into the deed. Article 18 of the Trusts Act 2001 recognises the protective or spendthrift trust: a beneficiary's interest may be subject to termination, restriction on alienation or suspension if the beneficiary becomes insolvent or has assets seized.

What a trust cannot do for you

A trust is not a way to defeat the law of succession by wishing it away. Several limits apply.

• Forced heirship. Where the law reserves part of an estate for certain heirs, transferring assets to a trust does not automatically remove that reservation. Whether and how it applies depends on the facts, the settlor's connections and the timing. Read the page on forced heirship before assuming otherwise.
• Irrevocability. Under article 11, a trust is presumed irrevocable by the settlor and the settlor's legal representative unless the deed expressly provides for revocation. If a couple later separates, they cannot simply undo the transfer.
• Challenge. A trust created to defeat identifiable claims can be attacked. See whether a trust can be challenged in court.
• Genuine ownership. If the settlor keeps every power and the trustee only signs, a court may look through the arrangement. The page on sham trusts explains the risk.

Decision guide: is a trust the right tool?

The tree below is a first screen only. It does not replace an analysis of your situation.

The comparison with a will is covered in trust or will for passing on assets.

Practical points to settle before signing

• List every person you want to benefit, from both families, and decide how each is described in the deed.
• Decide whether the spouse should receive income, a right to occupy a home, or both.
• Choose a trustee who is independent of both families.
• Decide whether a protector is wanted and what powers the deed gives that role.
• Write a letter of wishes and agree how it will be updated.
• Review your matrimonial regime and any existing will, so they do not contradict the trust.
• Take advice on the tax position of every person concerned, in every country where they live.

Records, privacy and tax

Trustees must keep accounts and records. Under article 38(3) of the Trusts Act 2001, the trustee maintains 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. Beneficiaries, including stepchildren who are named, therefore have information that exists on paper, even if their rights to see it depend on their position under the deed.

On confidentiality, article 33 of the Trusts Act 2001 (as rewritten by Act 9 of 2019, in force 29 May 2019) requires the trustee to keep information about the trust confidential. A court orders disclosure only on the application of an investigating authority, where the information is required in good faith for an investigation or proceedings relating to financial crime.

Mauritius also keeps official records of trusts. Under article 26A of the Financial Services Act 2007, the FSC maintains a register of domestic trusts and of foreign trusts with at least one qualified trustee. Anti-money-laundering rules treat the beneficial owners of a trust as including the settlor, the trustee, any protector and each beneficiary. This is not public disclosure, but it means that the roles you choose are recorded. See also whether Mauritius trusts are confidential.

On tax, the Income Tax Act 1995, as consolidated up to the Finance Act 2026, taxes any trust on its taxable income at the Part IV rate of the First Schedule, which is 15%. The older exemption for a non-resident trust that filed a declaration of non-residence was repealed by the Finance Act 2021, with deemed effect from 1 July 2021, so it no longer appears in the consolidated text. Article 46(2) still refers to a trust whose settlor is non-resident (or holds a Global Business Licence) and whose beneficiaries are all non-resident (or hold such a licence), but that trust remains taxed at the same 15%. How distributions are treated for each beneficiary depends on where they live; see how trusts are taxed in Mauritius and take advice.

Next step

If you are weighing a trust for your own family, you can send an enquiry through the contact form. Your request is passed to an FSC-licensed corporate service provider (Management Licence), who can look at your circumstances. Nothing on this page replaces that analysis.