Trustees and Fiduciaries (Cook Islands) Limited

Trustees & Fiduciaries is a licensed Cook Islands trustee company that is entirely locally owned and staffed. Its directors helped originate and develop the Cook Islands asset protection trust legislation the industry now operates under. They also bring decades of trust administration and cross-border litigation experience.

Trustees & Fiduciaries holds a trustee license issued by the Cook Islands Financial Supervisory Commission under the Trustee Companies Act 2014.

Local Ownership Leaves No Third-Country Pressure Point

All directors, shareholders, and management of Trustees & Fiduciaries are resident in the Cook Islands, and all operations run there. The company has no foreign parent, no offshore shareholders, and no management in jurisdictions where U.S. or other foreign courts exercise authority.

Some Cook Islands trustees are subsidiaries of international groups with operations in countries that cooperate with U.S. court orders. A creditor pursuing a trust administered by one of those trustees could try to pressure the parent company through a jurisdiction that recognizes the foreign judgment. Trustees & Fiduciaries avoids that exposure entirely. A creditor cannot apply pressure through a third country because there is no entity outside the Cook Islands to target.

A locally owned trustee also has no foreign parent whose corporate directives could conflict with trustee obligations under Cook Islands law during contested proceedings. The trustee’s decisions during litigation are made in Rarotonga, under Cook Islands law, by people who live there.

Services

Trustees & Fiduciaries administers international asset protection trusts, Cook Islands LLCs, international companies, and foundations. Beyond standard trust formation and administration, the company offers several specialized services that come from its litigation and legislative background.

Cross-border litigation management. Trustees & Fiduciaries’ directors have managed multimillion-dollar cross-border litigation against trusts. That work includes coordinating with local counsel, managing trust assets during active proceedings, and making trustee decisions under creditor pressure. A trustee’s litigation experience affects how well a trust performs when a determined creditor attacks.

Independent protector services. Trustees & Fiduciaries accepts professional protector appointments and brings its litigation background to the role during contested proceedings. Protector work can include removing a domestic co-trustee within a United States court’s jurisdiction and restructuring trust governance in response to evolving litigation.

Relationship property trusts. Trustees & Fiduciaries administers international relationship property trusts and developed the concept behind the International Relationship Property Trusts Act 2021, which New Zealand parliamentary drafters wrote into statute. These trusts allow couples to preserve designated trust assets in defined shares if they separate or divorce. They are a distinct product from standard asset protection trusts.

Managed trustee company services. Foreign trustees who want to establish a Cook Islands presence can use Trustees & Fiduciaries for managed trustee company administration. The company brings over 50 years of combined operational experience to that work.

Fees

Trustees & Fiduciaries publishes its trustee fees directly. Setup for an asset protection trust is US$3,520. Annual administration from year two onward is US$3,710. Fees are not based on total assets under management. Consulting work beyond standard administration is billed at US$400 per hour.

These are the trustee company’s fees only. They do not include legal fees for structuring the trust, which are separate and paid to the attorney who designs and documents the trust.

Leadership

Trustees & Fiduciaries is led by Reuben Tylor, who has over 40 years of specialist experience in asset protection and cross-border trust structuring. Tylor was admitted in New Zealand in 1974 and the following year joined the Cook Islands’ first private law firm, Short & Tylor. Two senior trust officers have spent 20 and more than 25 years in the Cook Islands trust and corporate services industry, covering compliance, due diligence, and corporate secretarial work.

Considerations for U.S. Settlors

Trustees & Fiduciaries is strongest for anyone with substantial assets, complex structures, or elevated litigation risk. In those situations the trustee’s willingness and capacity to defend a trust under sustained pressure is the primary concern. The company’s role in developing the legislation, its litigation record, and its fully local ownership are most relevant when the trust may eventually face a creditor who does not settle easily.

The company focuses on complex, high-stakes administration rather than high-volume processing. Anyone who prioritizes modern digital interfaces, automated account access, or the lowest fee structure may find that newer entrants or larger international groups offer different operational strengths.

Cook Islands trustee selection depends on matching the trustee’s strengths to the trust’s likely demands.