Technical article
What a Trust Does Not Do: Divorce, Child Support, Forced Heirship and the Other Doors Left Open
Support, divorce and family claims follow other rules, and the rules differ.
Picture a widow in Texas with US$5 million in a trust set up abroad. Four kinds of people might try to reach that money: a creditor, a former spouse, a child owed support, and a child left out of the will. This is an example, not a real family. The question is the one many of us ask: what can still reach the money?
The answer has two parts. One is how long a creditor has to act. The other is which claims the law leaves open no matter how long ago the money went in.
The creditor window
Many places give a creditor a fixed period. The period runs from the transfer, or from the day the creditor could have known. Here is what the laws and law-firm notes say.
| Place | Creditor window | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Nevis | One year from when the claim arose; a challenge to the transfer within two years | Statute (A) |
| Cook Islands | Two years from the transfer | Statute (A) |
| Bahamas | Two years from the transfer | Statute (A) |
| Cyprus | Two years from the transfer | Statute (A) |
| Bermuda | Six years from the transfer or from when the debt arose | Statute (A) |
| Cayman Islands | Six years from the transfer | Law-firm note (C) |
| South Dakota | Two years after the transfer, or six months after discovery if later | Statute (A) |
| Nevada | Two years after the transfer, or six months after discovery if later | Statute (A) |
| Delaware | Four years after the transfer, or one year after discovery | Statute (A) |
| Alaska | Four years after the transfer, or one year after discovery, whichever is later | Statute (A) |
| Mexico | No limit stated for a trust made to cheat third parties | Statute (A) |
A US trust has a second clock. Federal bankruptcy law reaches back ten years for a transfer into a trust the person can benefit from, if the aim was to cheat creditors. For other transfers it is two years (tier B).
The doors the window does not close
A window only covers creditors. Support, divorce and family claims follow other rules, and the rules differ.
South Dakota carves out support, alimony and spouse or child property division. Alaska leaves open child support owed at the time of transfer, and divorce when assets moved close to a marriage. Tennessee leaves open past-due child support and alimony. Wyoming names child support in default for 30 days or more. Delaware names support, alimony, divorce and injury claims that existed at transfer. Nevada's trust chapter lists none of these, though its Supreme Court held in 2017 that support awards against the settlor personally still stood.
The offshore places close some of these doors by statute. Cook Islands law says foreign heirship and personal-relationship claims do not void a trust. Nevis shields both kinds. Cayman law shuts foreign divorce and heirship orders out of its courts. These are statements of local law (A). They tell us what a court in that place would do, which is not always where the claim is heard.
Forced heirship
Some countries reserve part of an estate for children, whatever the will says. Germany gives children a cash claim of half their statutory share, and the law reaches gifts made up to ten years before death. France reserves one half, two thirds or three quarters of the estate for one, two, or three or more children. Italy reserves shares for the spouse and children under its Civil Code. A German court has applied the German compulsory portion despite a choice of English law.
For a family with heirs in Germany, France or Italy, this is the claim most likely to come from inside the family. Delaware's statute does not list heirship claims among its exceptions. Cook Islands, Nevis and Cayman law shut foreign heirship claims out of their own courts.
Who it touches
A spouse, who may have a divorce or maintenance claim. A child owed support. A child in Germany, France or Italy with a reserved share. A lender who was owed money when the transfer happened. Each of them meets a different rule, in a different court.
If you have watched one of these claims arrive in your own family, what did it turn on? Share it here. Someone else may be weighing the same door.
Figures are estimates for planning, based on public data. Date read: October 2026.
Sources
- Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance (A)
- Cook Islands International Trusts Act (A)
- Bahamas Fraudulent Dispositions Act 1991 (A)
- Cyprus International Trusts Law (A)
- Bermuda Conveyancing Act 1983 (A)
- South Dakota Codified Laws ch. 55-16 (A)
- Nevada Revised Statutes ch. 166 (A)
- Delaware Code title 12 and title 6 (A)
- Alaska Statutes 34.40.110 (A)
- Tennessee Code 35-16-104 (A)
- Wyoming Statutes 4-10-520 (A)
- Mexico LGTOC art. 386 (A)
- Klabacka v Nelson, Nevada Supreme Court 2017 (B)
- US Bankruptcy Code s.548 (B)
- German Civil Code s.2325 (A)
- Bedell Cristin briefing on the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Act (C)
- Italian Civil Code art. 542 (A)
- French forced-heirship summary (C)
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