Trusts behind closed doors
In an article for STEP Journal, Alex Hall Taylor KC and Tyrone Bailey examine how recent amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules in the British Virgin Islands shape whether trust and estate proceedings are heard publicly or privately.
An original version of this article was first published in Issue 3, 2026 of the STEP Journal, June 2026.
In common with other offshore financial centres and jurisdictions, trust and estate disputes in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) frequently involve highly sensitive financial and confidential business information, personal medical information, internal family disputes, issues concerning the welfare of minors and private family arrangements. It is therefore unsurprising that a common practice has developed for confidentiality orders to be granted, provided that good reasons exist. The BVI court may, and frequently does, hear trust and estate disputes in private, anonymise the names of individuals associated with the dispute in its judgments or orders, seal the court file or impose restrictions as deemed necessary to preserve the confidentiality of the proceedings and information disclosed within them.
Unlike most other offshore jurisdictions, the BVI has historically had relatively little judicial authority addressing the procedural basis for confidentiality orders in trust and estate proceedings. This is due to hearings in such proceedings commonly being heard in private, court files often being sealed and orders restricting the inspection of documents commonly being made.
It is against this background that the amendments to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules (the Rules) in 2023 represent an important development in BVI trust and estate practice and procedure. The Rules introduced a clearer procedural framework governing whether hearings should be conducted in public or private. This article examines how the provisions of the Rules apply and may be interpreted in trust and estate proceedings, particularly when viewed against the historical practice of privacy in such matters in the BVI.
The full article is available on the STEP website.
