¶ 2301
Overview
Scope of the chapter. A creditor who wins a judgment abroad and finds that the debtor's wealth sits in a Nevis trust, a Nevis limited liability company or a Nevis multiform foundation must make that judgment work in Nevis. This chapter explains how a foreign judgment reaches the High Court of Saint Christopher and Nevis, and what the general law would do with it. It then shows how the three Nevis statutes displace the general law when the judgment touches a Nevis entity. It covers the two federal registration statutes and Part 74 of the Civil Procedure Rules; the common-law action on a foreign judgment and its defences; the trust firewall in sections 30, 31, 52, 54 and 62 of the Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance; the parallel provisions of the Limited Liability Company Ordinance and the Multiform Foundations Ordinance; matrimonial, heirship and community-property claims; foreign insolvency proceedings, receivers and arbitral awards; and the use of directions applications to give limited effect to a foreign order. Nevis International Exempt Trust Ordinance, Cap. 7.03(N), §§ 30–31, 52, 54, 62 (rev. ed. 2017) ("NIETO"); Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance, Cap. 7.04(N), §§ 60–61 (rev. ed. 2020) ("NLLCO"); Multiform Foundations Ordinance, Cap. 7.08(N), §§ 46, 109–110 (rev. ed. 2017) ("MFO").
The term "firewall." Offshore practitioners use "firewall" for two different kinds of provision, and the chapter keeps them apart. The first is a choice-of-law rule: a Nevis court deciding whether a trust, a company formation or a subscription is valid will apply Nevis law and will not apply a foreign rule of heirship, matrimonial property or creditors' rights that would defeat it. NIETO §§ 31, 54; NLLCO § 61(16)–(17); MFO § 46. The second is a rule about judgments: the Nevis court will not entertain proceedings to recognize or enforce a foreign judgment of a stated kind against the entity, the people involved with it or its property. NIETO § 30; NLLCO §§ 60(7), (12), (14), 61(11); MFO § 110. The two rules work together. The judgment rule sends the creditor back to the start; the choice-of-law rule decides what law applies when the creditor starts again in Nevis.
Where the chapter fits. Chapter 3 described the courts and the procedural rules, including section 24(4), which bars proceedings to detain or interfere with trust property (see supra ¶¶ 340.04–340.05). Chapter 6 examined the choice-of-law and validity provisions as they bear on the creation of a trust (see supra ¶¶ 630, 660–670). Chapter 7 examined section 38, under which a trustee or protector sued abroad may cease to hold office (see supra ¶¶ 780.03–780.04). Chapter 8 examined claims against a beneficiary's interest, including Charman v. Charman (see supra ¶¶ 880.01–880.09). Chapter 15 examined the charging order and the bar on enforcing foreign charging remedies against a member's interest (see supra ch. 15). Chapter 20 examined section 46 of the Foundations Ordinance and Akhmedova v. Akhmedov (see supra ¶¶ 2020.04–2020.08). Chapter 21 examines the fraudulent-disposition claim that a creditor must bring in Nevis once the foreign judgment is shut out, and chapter 22 the bond that the creditor must post first (see infra chs. 21–22). Chapter 25 examines what a foreign court does when the Nevis firewall works, including contempt and repatriation orders (see infra ch. 25). This chapter draws those threads together and states the Nevis law on foreign judgments in one place.
The answer in brief. A judgment of a court in the United States cannot be registered in Nevis, because neither federal registration statute has been extended to the United States. The creditor must sue on it at common law. At common law the High Court would ordinarily enforce a final money judgment of a court that had jurisdiction over the defendant in the international sense, subject to narrow defences. The Nevis statutes then intervene. Where the judgment is against a Nevis international trust, its settlor, trustee, protector or beneficiary, or the trust's property, and the judgment applies law inconsistent with the Trust Ordinance or concerns a matter governed by the law of Saint Christopher and Nevis, the High Court will not entertain proceedings to recognize or enforce it at all. NIETO § 30. Similar rules protect a member's interest in a Nevis LLC and the LLC's property, and a multiform foundation, its officers, beneficiaries and property. NLLCO §§ 60(7), (12), (14), 61(11); MFO § 110. In each case the creditor must bring a fresh claim in Nevis under Nevis law, subject to the Nevis limitation periods, the Nevis standard of proof and, where it applies, the bond.
The state of the authorities. No reported decision of the High Court, the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal or the Privy Council has construed section 30 of the Trust Ordinance, the foreign-judgment provisions of section 60 or 61 of the LLC Ordinance or section 110 of the Foundations Ordinance. Searches of the court's published judgments and of commercial databases in November 2026 found none, and practitioner commentary agrees. The chapter therefore states the text, the general law against which it operates, the closest Commonwealth authority, and the readings that a Nevis court is likely to adopt. Where a reading is untested the text says so.
Plan of the chapter. Paragraph 2310 identifies the routes by which a foreign judgment can reach Nevis. Paragraph 2320 examines the federal registration statutes and Part 74 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Paragraph 2330 examines the common-law action on a foreign judgment and discusses Rubin v. Eurofinance SA. Paragraph 2340 examines the trust firewall. Paragraph 2350 examines the LLC and foundation firewalls. Paragraph 2360 addresses matrimonial, heirship and community-property claims. Paragraph 2370 addresses foreign insolvency proceedings, receivers and arbitral awards, and discusses Millennium Financial Ltd. v. McNamara. Paragraph 2380 explains how a foreign order may be given effect through a directions application without being enforced, drawing on the Jersey decisions. Paragraph 2390 compares the Nevis firewalls with those of the Cook Islands, Belize, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands and closes with a planning checklist.