# Moving situs of US Trust to the UK



## sueinwales (Oct 4, 2017)

Moving on......by inches.

Starting down the trail of legal advice in Massachusetts to see if an american based trust (I am a beneficiary) can be dissolved/terminated. That angle not looking very hopeful, however, there was a suggestion to 'move' the trust to the UK. Not sure yet whether this would mean sort of reconstituting said trust (but what happens to the trust document, its language and intent?) or getting a UK based trustee to take over its management (and investing- presumably in UK tax friendly things). So far the Boston lawyer is suggesting trying to move the Trust to the London branch of the american bank which currently holds it, but i have no idea if this will make things better or even worse. Presumably while i remain a US person it would make the tax reporting even more complicated.

If I can ditch the Trust, or even move it over to the UK, then i plan to renounce US citizenship asap.
Any insights?


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## 255 (Sep 8, 2018)

sueinwales -- I agree, your first option should be to dissolve the trust. Assuming this is an irrevocable trust, the trust itself should have provisions on how to "wind up" the trust. Often times an agreement of "all" beneficiaries will be needed -- but some trusts are written to endure in perpetuity. It is very common for trusts to have a provision for a change of venue/trustees. First step is to review the trust yourself and then you can ask an attorney for clarifications, if necessary. I have closed out a few U.S. based trusts, but they all had sunset provisions and were closed out with the IRS.

An alternative, if the trust doesn't have provisions for dissolution, might be to petition a court, in the jurisdiction where the trust was created, to dissolve the trust -- possibly due to changed conditions (your life in the UK,) that wasn't envisioned when the trust was created. Cheers, 255


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