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A dormant trust with no review is more common than most families admit. A parent or grandparent set up a trust, the paperwork went into a drawer, and nobody has asked a question since. You may now be a beneficiary, a settlor's child or an adviser who has just heard the word "trust" for the first time. The first task is not to decide anything. It is to find out what exists, who runs it and whether the trustee is still doing the job.
Why this is a trustee question
When no one watches a trust, the trustee is the only person left who knows what it holds. That is acceptable if the trustee is active, regulated and well supervised. It is a problem if the trustee has retired, changed hands, stopped writing or never produced proper accounts.
So the review starts from the trustee, not from the assets. You are asking three things: who is in office today, what authority the trust deed gives them, and whether they can show you what they have done. If the answers are unclear, the trustee relationship is the first thing to repair, and a due diligence exercise on your trustee gives a structure for it.
Finding the file
Most dormant trusts leave traces in several places. Start with the paper and the people, then move to the institutions.
| Where to look | What it may show | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Family papers and safe deposit boxes | Original deed, letters of wishes, old trustee letters | Often incomplete or unsigned copies |
| The former adviser or lawyer | Who drafted the deed, where it was kept | May have retired or closed |
| Bank statements and correspondence | Names of the trust accounts and the institution | Accounts may have moved or been closed |
| Tax filings of the settlor | Reference to a trust, its trustee and its assets | Depends on what was declared |
| The trustee's own successor or parent group | Records after a merger or sale of the business | Needs proof that you are entitled to ask |
Be realistic about the result. You may end up with a photocopy of the deed, a single bank letter and a name that no longer exists. That is still enough to begin. The documents to gather before changing trustee list shows what a complete file normally contains, so you can see what is missing.
Who is allowed to ask
A beneficiary, a settlor, a protector or an heir to one of them does not automatically have the same rights. What you can demand depends on the trust deed, the governing law and your place in the structure. What information your trustee must give you explains the usual position. If you are unsure of your standing, say so at the start of any assessment, because it changes which route is open.
From finding the file to a first review note
The sequence below is a sensible order of work. Each step produces something you can put in writing.
What a first read should establish
The aim of the first reading is a short, honest note. It should answer questions that determine every later choice.
- Who is the trustee? An individual, a company, or a successor after a transfer of business. If the original individual has died or stepped back, see what happens when your individual trustee has died or retired.
- What law governs the trust? The deed usually says. The 1985 Hague Convention on the law applicable to trusts treats a trust as governed by the law the settlor chose, expressly or by implication. Where nothing is chosen, it looks to the closest connections, such as the place of administration, the location of assets, the trustee's residence and the purposes of the trust.
- Who holds the powers? A protector, the settlor through reserved powers, or the trustee alone.
- Is there a regulated trustee? For a Swiss trustee, what FINMA and SO-FIT approval means tells you what supervision to expect.
- Do records exist? Accounts, minutes of decisions and distribution records show whether the trust was actually administered.
A reading like this is not a legal opinion. Governing law, tax residence and the position of each beneficiary differ from one family to the next, and those points need individual analysis.
A note on governing law
Switzerland signed the Hague Convention of 1 July 1985 on the law applicable to trusts and on their recognition on 3 April 2007, ratified it on 26 April 2007, and it entered into force for Switzerland on 1 July 2007. Article 149c of the Swiss Private International Law Act (LDIP) refers the law applicable to trusts to that Convention. That article does not deal with succession law, which is a separate subject.
For a dormant trust this matters in one practical way. A trust created long ago may be under a foreign law, administered abroad, or both. Under Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention, if the chosen law does not know the institution of the trust, the choice has no effect and the closest-connection test applies. A Swiss trustee looking at an old deed therefore starts by checking which law actually applies before judging anything else. Detailed tax and succession consequences sit outside this page.
What a trust can and cannot do for you here
A trust that has been left alone still separates control of assets from benefit of them. That structure may be worth keeping. But dormancy has costs that the structure itself cannot cure.
- A trust cannot make an absent trustee answer. Someone must act on the deed's removal and appointment powers.
- A trust cannot confirm its own compliance. Reporting duties, identity checks and tax reporting have developed since many old trusts were set up, and older files may not meet current expectations.
- A trust cannot repair a deed that no longer fits the family. Marriages, deaths, new countries of residence and a sale of the business all change what the deed should say.
Alternatives exist. You can keep the trustee and ask for a proper catch-up, add a protector, change the trustee, or in some cases wind the trust up. The switch trustee or stay and fix comparison sets these routes side by side, and changing trustee step by step covers the mechanics if you decide to move.
Example: a trust set up by a parent
Example: a family established in Lausanne finds, after the death of a parent, a folder labelled "the trust". Inside are a deed signed long ago, two letters from a trustee firm that no longer uses that name, and a statement from a bank the family has never dealt with.
The adult children first establish that the firm was taken over by a larger group, which holds the old files. They write to ask for the current trustee's identity, the accounts and any minutes. The replies show that distributions were made, but no written reasons exist for several of them. That gap is what an independent reader would flag first; the case of an independent review revealing missing minutes follows a similar pattern. The family can then choose between asking the current trustee to remedy the records and replacing the trustee, and an independent review of the trust and its trustee lets them take that decision on facts. This illustration is fictional.
Quick checklist
- Gather every copy of the deed and its amendments
- Identify the trustee in office today
- List the bank and asset records tied to the trust
- Note who can appoint or remove the trustee
- Ask in writing for accounts and minutes
- Record gaps in a short first review note
Frequently asked questions
What counts as a dormant trust?
A trust is dormant in practice when no review, meeting or substantive report has taken place for a long time, even if the trustee still exists and the assets are untouched. The label is about attention, not legal status.
I cannot find the original deed. Is the trust lost?
Not necessarily. A certified copy, a copy held by the trustee or by the original adviser, or references in bank records can establish the terms. What matters is a reliable text of the deed and its amendments. Without one, the trustee's records and legal advice become more important.
Can I ask the trustee for accounts if I am only a beneficiary?
Often you can ask, but what you are entitled to receive depends on the deed, the governing law and the type of interest you hold. A discretionary beneficiary and a fixed interest beneficiary may stand differently. An individual analysis tells you which requests are well founded.
Does the trustee have to be in Switzerland?
No. Many older trusts have a trustee elsewhere. If you are considering a Swiss trustee, the question is whether a change would serve the family, and that depends on the deed and the law that governs it.
How do I know whether my trustee is still fit for the role?
Look at responsiveness, the quality of records, supervision status and whether the trustee has kept up with current compliance expectations. The ten-question review guide gives a practical way to test these points.
Should I act before I have read the deed?
Rarely. Moving assets, removing a trustee or confronting the current one before you understand the deed can create avoidable problems. Read first, then decide.
How are the costs of a review set?
Fees depend on the structure and on the work needed, and they are indicated after the confidential assessment.
Sources
Considering a trust, or reviewing one?
Describe your situation in a few lines. A Geneva-based trustee reviews it in confidence and replies in writing.