Technical article
Trust Registers: Who Can See the Name of a Trust and Its Beneficiaries
In Spain the register names the settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiaries.
Imagine a family that has put savings into a trust. The children live in three countries. A cousin, a neighbour or a journalist types the family name into a search box. Will the name of the trust, the trustee or the beneficiaries come up?
The answer depends on where the trust is run and where its trustee lives. The sources show three kinds of place: places with a register that officials and some outsiders can read, places with a register that only officials can read, and places with no register of trusts at all.
Place by place
| Place | The register | Who can look |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Trust Registration Service, run by the tax office. Most UK trusts and some foreign trusts with UK links must register | Not public. Law enforcement and firms bound by money-laundering rules can ask |
| France | A register of trusts under the finance ministers | Open access was struck down by the Constitutional Council on 21 October 2016. A December 2016 order limited access to authorities and regulated professionals |
| Germany | Transparency register. Trustees in Germany or with German ties report | Public access ended after a Court of Justice ruling of 22 November 2022. Now a legitimate interest is needed |
| Ireland | Central register of trusts' beneficial owners, run by Revenue | Public bodies, authorities, banks and other designated persons, and members of the public with a legitimate interest |
| Malta | Register run by the financial regulator | Authorities and regulated firms freely; anyone showing a legitimate interest |
| Spain | Central register since 19 September 2023, for trusts with a link to Spain | Authorities, professionals and people with a legitimate interest, for limited fields |
| Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man | No public register of trusts | The Jersey tax office receives a copy of the trust paperwork to register it for tax |
| Cayman Islands | Optional register of exempted trusts | The trustee and anyone the trust authorises; not the public |
| Gibraltar | Since 1 December 2025 trustees give details to the financial regulator within 10 working days | Kept from the public. An optional index of registered trusts can be inspected |
| Bermuda | No registration requirement | Trustee keeps the settlor's information confidential |
| British Virgin Islands | No mandatory registration | Details stay confidential unless a court orders disclosure |
| Nevis | A register of international trusts | Closed to inspection, except to a person the trustee names in writing |
| Cook Islands | A registry kept by the financial regulator | It may confirm only the trust name, date and number, registered office and trustee company |
The rows rest on statutes and registry pages (tier A) and on law-firm guides (tier B). The Crown Dependency answer comes from a 2017 guide and a 2023 Guernsey guide, both tier B.
A newer test: legitimate interest
Several European registers now let in people who show a legitimate interest. In Germany that test replaced fully public access. France moved its register for companies to the same test on 31 July 2024.
What a closed register still shows officials
Closed to the public is not the same as closed to everyone. In Spain the register names the settlor, trustee, protector and beneficiaries. In the United Kingdom the lead trustee holds documents and law enforcement can ask. In Gibraltar the regulator may share the details with named bodies such as the police, customs and the tax commissioner. Cayman, the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda also take part in account-information exchange, so banks there report account holders to home tax offices.
So the question about the cousin and the journalist has one answer, and the question about tax offices has another. A closed register may keep the neighbour out. A tax office in the heirs' country may still see what its own law asks for.
You could
You could ask your trustee which registers hold the trust's name and who has looked at it. You could also ask whether the settlor, the trustee or the beneficiaries appear in each register, since some entries leave out the beneficiaries.
Have you checked who can see your trust, or a trust you are named in? Tell us what you learned. Someone choosing a place may find it useful.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.
Sources
- gov.uk Register a trust as a trustee (A)
- Low Incomes Tax Reform Group page on the Trust Registration Service (C)
- Conseil constitutionnel decision 2016-591 QPC (A), actu-juridique on ordinance 2016-1635 (C), transparenzregister.de (A)
- Revenue Ireland trust register pages, August 2026 (A)
- Malta Financial Services Authority register page (A)
- Royal Decree 609/2023 and Legalmondo (A, C), gov.je trust pages (A)
- Carey Olsen on Guernsey trusts, 2023 (B)
- Cayman General Registry (A)
- Gibraltar Trusts (Information) Regulations 2025 (A)
- Conyers on Bermuda, 2026 (B)
- Appleby on the British Virgin Islands, 2015 (B)
- Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance (A)
- Cook Islands Financial Supervisory Commission (A)
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