Nevis Multiform Foundation

Core jurisdiction

Offshore Broker · Nevis Multiform Foundation

Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Caribbean Saint Kitts and Nevis
Latitude 00.0000° N
Longitude 000.0000° W
Written and reviewed by John Evans Connor Steens
Updated

Governing law

Nevis Multiform Foundation Ordinance 2004

Legal forms

Any one of four, named in the constitution and switchable afterwards

Burden of proof

Fraudulent transfer proven beyond reasonable doubt

Limitation period

One year after the disposition date

Formation time

Two to three weeks once KYC clears

Receivership

A founder's creditor cannot have a Nevis receiver appointed

A general overview only. No other offshore foundation can, through its constitution, choose to be treated as a company, a partnership, or a trust the way the Nevis Multiform Foundation can. For Offshore Broker, Nevis and the Cook Islands are the two central jurisdictions. Whether it fits depends on you, your assets, and what you are trying to achieve.

Standalone Foundation

Nevis Multiform Foundation

$6,500

first-year fees all covered · 2–3 weeks

A Nevis Multiform Foundation on its own, in whichever legal form you select. The constitution sets out whether it functions as a company, a partnership, a trust, or an ordinary foundation, and it is registered via a licensed Nevis registered agent.

Set up in the legal form you choose and named in the constitution
Every Nevis government registration and first-year registered agent fee
Complete drafting of the charter and by-laws
A Nevis Multiform Foundation, registered and up and running
Get started↗
Total Protection Package

Foundation + Company + Banking

$8,500

all first-year fees included · Formation scheduled in step

The full build. A Nevis Multiform Foundation, a Nevis LLC sitting underneath it, and a bank account with one of our partner institutions — the widest structural flexibility, with functioning banking in place from the very first day.

Nevis Multiform Foundation — registered in full and operational
Nevis LLC — completely registered and running, with the founder managing
Every formation document for the foundation and the company
Every government fee and first-year registered agent cost
An offshore bank account with whichever partner institution you pick
Book a consultation↗
Foundation structure

How does a Nevis Multiform Foundation work?

A legal entity that owns itself, with nobody holding shares, nobody owning it and no trustee — free to take on the legal traits of as many as four different structures.

It comes into being under the Nevis Multiform Foundation Ordinance 2004. A founder signs a charter, that charter is filed with the Nevis Registrar, and from then on the foundation stands as a legal person in its own right — holding property under its name, entering contracts, banking, owning companies and running a business.

Its one-of-a-kind trait is the ability to elect a form. It starts out in the Foundation Form but can choose the Trust Form, the Company Form or the Partnership Form — on their own or combined — and can later add to or alter those forms by amending the charter. With no rule against perpetuities in play, the foundation may carry on without end.

  • Charter: the constitutional document on record, setting out the form or forms elected.
  • By-laws: the private rules holding the operational detail, kept off the public register.
  • Management board: the body in charge — at least one member, and corporate members are allowed.
  • Protector: an optional oversight position whose powers the charter spells out.

Offshore Broker handles choosing the form, drafting the charter, and registering it via licensed Nevis registered agents.

Discuss your structure

First-hand ties to licensed Nevis registered agents

Because we work hand in hand with licensed Nevis registered agents, you get quicker turnaround, keener pricing, and guidance rooted in the jurisdiction itself instead of passed along second-hand.

One engagement covering every Nevis structure — Foundation, LLC, and IBC

We coordinate the Multiform Foundation, LLC, IBC and Nevis Trust as one, so the layers are designed together as a single structure rather than bolted on one at a time.

Fixed or quoted pricing that already folds in every government and registered agent cost

We help you work out which of the four legal forms truly matches your goals. Since just one is ever in force, nailing it at the start really counts.

Active in more than 20 jurisdictions — among them Nevis, the Cook Islands, BVI and Cayman

The quoted price already carries every Nevis government registration charge and your first year of registered agent costs — nothing concealed, no invoices out of nowhere.

Honest jurisdiction recommendations

When the Cook Islands Trust is the better fit for your risk profile, we tell you. What we recommend follows your objectives rather than our price list.

The multiform advantage

A single entity, with four legal forms on offer.

Across the world, the Nevis Multiform Foundation is the only offshore foundation that hands the founder the choice of which body of law will govern the entity. It carries a single form at any given moment: the constitution declares whether it functions as a company, a partnership, a trust, or an ordinary foundation, and the entity is run accordingly. Later on, that form can be changed by amending the charter, with no dissolution and not one asset moved. This distinctive trait lets the foundation be reshaped over its lifetime, giving you a highly adaptable planning vehicle that keeps pace as family, asset, tax, regulatory and commercial circumstances shift.

Choose a form below and see what it actually means in practice.

Pick the form your constitution will state

Under the constitution, the foundation will be stated

to operate as an ordinary foundation

Only one form is in force at any moment. The strength lies in getting to pick that form up front, and in being able to alter it later without setting up a new entity.

Foundation Form

This is what applies unless the constitution says something different. The foundation owns itself — no shareholders, no members, no partners, no trustee. It holds property under its own name, signs contracts, banks, and owns companies. A management board runs it under the registered charter, while private by-laws hold the operational detail. A founder can reserve powers over that board without those powers turning the assets into his own.

PurposeAn entity that owns itself, with no owner and no trustee
Governed byA management board, acting under the charter and the private by-laws
Typically forProtecting assets, planning estates, and purpose-driven or charitable structures
Changing form is done by amending the charter. It leaves registration, transfers already made, and the Ordinance’s creditor protections all untouched. Discuss the right form
Structure comparison

The Multiform Foundation, the Nevis LLC, and the Cook Islands Trust compared

Three capable structures, each doing a different job. The foundation owns itself and bends to fit. The Nevis LLC is owned by its members and puts up the toughest creditor-specific statutory walls. The Cook Islands Trust holds the longest record in contested litigation. Most full builds combine two of the three.

Structural flexibility

Nevis Multiform Foundation

Best forFlexible governance, setups with multiple principals, and succession planning.
OwnershipOwns itself. Without members, shareholders, or a trustee.
Founder roleCan serve on the management board and, by statute, hold back powers.
DistinctiveThe constitution settles on one of four forms, changeable as time goes on.
Creditor barriers

Nevis LLC

Best forProtection against creditors, fought at the level of the member's interest.
OwnershipOwned by its members, who hold the membership interests themselves.
Creditor remedyA charging order lasting three years, non-renewable, and no other remedy.
DistinctiveA $100,000 bond has to be lodged before any claim can even start.
Court-tested

Cook Islands Trust

Best forAmerican clients who put a battle-tested barrier first.
OwnershipA licensed trustee holds the legal title on the beneficiaries' behalf.
Track recordFour decades of it, US federal agency challenges among them.
DistinctiveAnti-duress clauses that let the trustee act on their own.
Nevis's most powerful arrangement is a foundation that owns an LLC: a creditor is then up against the Ordinance’s defences alongside the LLC’s charging order and bond requirements at once. See the packages
Stage 01

Transfer of ownership

The foundation holds the assets outright

Once assets pass to the foundation, they sit under its own name. No trustee holds them on your behalf and no membership interest is recorded against you. They never become part of your personal estate.

Protective effectA creditor coming after you personally is chasing property that is no longer yours.
Stage 02

No foreign judgement recognition

In Nevis, a foreign judgement carries no force

You cannot take a judgement from the US, the UK, or anywhere else to a Nevis court and enforce it against foundation assets. The creditor is left to open wholly new proceedings on the island, governed by Nevis law.

Protective effectYears of litigation abroad end in a judgement that goes no further than the border.
Stage 03

Burden of proof

The beyond-reasonable-doubt bar, set on a civil claim

Undoing a transfer as fraudulent requires the creditor to establish an intent to defraud that very creditor to the beyond-reasonable-doubt standard — the criminal test, transplanted into a civil proceeding.

Protective effectOrdinarily a fraudulent transfer claim turns on the balance of probabilities. Here it does not.
Stage 04

Limitation period

A single year from when the disposition is made

A claim has to be filed within one year of the transfer, or within three years of the cause of action arising if the creditor did not know back then — brief by any international yardstick.

Protective effectAfter that window shuts, the transfer is beyond challenge no matter the intent.
Stage 05

No receivership

No Nevis receiver placed over foundation assets

The Ordinance states outright that no court in Nevis may put a receiver over foundation assets when a creditor of the founder brings the claim — a precise bar written into the statute, not something left to a judge's discretion.

Protective effectThe customary interim move of freezing assets before trial is sealed shut by the statute.
Stage 06

LLC layering

The Nevis LLC beneath brings barriers of its own

When a Nevis LLC sits under the foundation, a creditor runs into the LLC statute as well: the only remedy is a non-renewable charging order good for three years, and a compulsory $100,000 bond stands in the way before any claim can be filed.

Protective effectThat means beating two separate statutory regimes, not just one.
Where Nevis leads

A structural flexibility on offer nowhere else

No competing offshore foundation gives the founder the say over which body of law governs the entity. When the structure genuinely calls for trust mechanics, corporate voting, or partnership economics, only Nevis will put that into a foundation charter.

Families of several branches that want distinct governance and voting rights
Commercial joint ventures that want partnership economics housed in a protected entity
Investment vehicles built on profit waterfalls and priority distribution mechanics
Founders in civil law systems across Europe, Latin America and Asia who know foundations well
Clients who want to shift the form as time passes without creating a new entity
When a different structure is the better fit

When a record proven in court counts above all

We will be blunt here. On paper the Nevis Ordinance is strong, but it has not faced US contested proceedings anywhere near as often as the Cook Islands Trust.

American clients whose one aim is a forty-year record in contested courts
Cases where the Nevis LLC's bond and charging order on their own suit better
Setups that require anti-duress clauses steering an independent trustee
Situations in which speed and price are not what settles the decision
The most robust Nevis setup joins the foundation to a Nevis LLC. For the lengthiest proven record, look instead at the Cook Islands Trust, or see the Total Protection Package.
  • Nevis registered agent application coordinated from start to finish
  • Registered agent, registration and third-party costs itemised in the written quote
  • Foundation charter and private by-laws drafted around your elected form or forms
  • Underlying Nevis LLC formed as the operating and banking layer, founder as manager
  • Structure registered and prepared to receive assets from day one

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

More than two decades of experience across offshore banking, asset protection, international companies and trusts.

Connor Steens
BBUS

Founder & Business Development Director

Sydney, Australia

Specialises in offshore structuring, strategic partnerships, business development and global wealth solutions.

Atinata Hosking

Sales Manager

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Brings more than two decades of experience in offshore banking, regulatory compliance and client relationship management.

Melanie Tetuaiteroi

Sales Assistant

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Supports client onboarding, communications, documentation and operational coordination, backed by fiduciary administration experience.

Recent Articles

Explore our latest insights, practical guides and updates on international wealth structuring.

What is a Nevis Multiform Foundation?

Set up under the Nevis Multiform Foundation Ordinance 2004, a Nevis Multiform Foundation is a legal entity that owns itself. It has no shareholders, no owners and no trustee, holds property under its own name, and is run by a management board acting under a registered charter. What defines it is that the constitution declares which of four legal forms governs it — company, partnership, trust, or ordinary foundation — and that decision can be revisited during the foundation's lifetime.

What are the four legal forms, and which do I need?

The Foundation Form is the fallback: a self-owning entity with a management board, created for beneficiaries or for a purpose. The Trust Form brings in trust-law fiduciary duties and hands beneficiaries equitable-style interests. The Company Form produces members carrying set governance and voting rights. The Partnership Form produces partners with partnership-style economic allocation. Only one governs at a time, and it is named in the constitution, so which form is right comes down to your goals. We cover it in every consultation before a word is drafted.

Can the foundation hold more than one form at a time?

No. A Nevis Multiform Foundation takes one form at a time. The constitution states whether the foundation is to operate as an ordinary foundation, a trust, a company, or a partnership, and the entity is governed on that basis. What makes the structure unique is that the founder gets to choose which body of law applies, and can change that choice later by charter amendment without forming a new entity, dissolving the existing one, or transferring any asset.

How much does a Nevis Multiform Foundation cost?

Setup begins at $6,500 USD, with every Nevis government registration charge and the first year of registered agent fees already included. Add a Nevis LLC underneath and the package moves to $7,500; the Total Protection Package — foundation, LLC and a partner bank account — comes to $8,500. You see the full fees quoted before committing to anything.

How does the asset protection work?

A judgement from a foreign court cannot be enforced against a Nevis Multiform Foundation. A creditor has to open new proceedings on the island, establish fraudulent intent to the beyond-reasonable-doubt standard, and file within a year of the transfer. The Ordinance likewise forbids a Nevis receiver being placed over foundation assets when a founder's creditor sues. Whichever form the constitution names, these protections still hold.

Can the founder sit on the management board?

Yes. A founder can sit on the board and keep reserved powers — rewriting the charter, adding or removing board members, and issuing binding directions — without those powers making the foundation's assets count as the founder's own. Having that permission set in statute puts you on markedly cleaner ground than a trust settlor who clings to wide powers, where the control kept back is a known weak spot.

How does it compare to the Nevis LLC?

The Nevis LLC is owned by its members and comes with creditor-specific statutory walls: the sole remedy is a non-renewable three-year charging order, and a required $100,000 bond must be posted before a claim can even be filed. The foundation, owning itself, carries the Ordinance's defences in their place. Purely for fighting off creditors, the LLC's bond is formidable; for governance, succession and multiform flexibility, the foundation is the right pick. Put them together — the foundation owning the LLC — and you have the broadest protection Nevis law allows.

How does it compare to the Cook Islands Trust?

Over forty years the Cook Islands Trust has built a court-tested record aimed squarely at US creditors, including standing up successfully to challenges from US federal agencies. The Nevis Multiform Foundation offers strong statutory protection but has not been put to the test to the same degree in US contested proceedings. For American clients whose chief worry is protection proven in battle, the trust is still the benchmark. Where the deciding factors are structural flexibility, familiarity with civil law, speed or cost, the foundation wins out.

What assets can it hold?

More or less any class of asset — cash, deposits, investment portfolios, stakes in businesses, intellectual property, precious metals and digital assets. Real estate is usually held through an LLC that the foundation owns rather than directly, because real property always falls under the law of wherever it is located. In most setups a Nevis LLC serves as the operating layer, with the founder acting as manager.

How long does formation take, and is it legal?

Drafting, signing and registering the charter usually runs two to three weeks after KYC is complete. Bring in an LLC and a bank account and the whole timeline stretches to six to ten weeks. The structure is fully lawful. What you report at home hinges on classification — for founders in the US the foundation may be treated as a foreign trust, a foreign corporation, or another kind of entity, and the form named in the constitution feeds into that analysis. Settle the point with a qualified US international tax adviser before the charter is finalised.