Wyoming supports a wide range of trusts. A Wyoming dynasty trust passes wealth across generations for up to 1,000 years. A Wyoming asset protection trust — the Qualified Spendthrift Trust — is an irrevocable, self-settled trust that shields assets from most future creditors. A Wyoming irrevocable trust cannot be changed once made, which is what gives many of these structures their protection. Others are defined by what they hold: a Wyoming land trust or Wyoming real estate trust holds property privately, a Wyoming business trust holds a business, and a Wyoming anonymous trust keeps the owner's name off the public record. Only the Wyoming statutory trust is formed by a Secretary of State filing; the rest are private trusts a Wyoming trust attorney drafts and you fund.

Two questions come up on cost. A Wyoming statutory trust cost is our filing fee, $252 plus the state fee. A Wyoming asset protection trust cost, and a Wyoming trust cost for any attorney-drafted private trust, is higher and set by the attorney — asset protection is drafting work, not a filing, so treat any low "trust" price as the statutory-trust filing, not a DAPT.

Wyoming trust law sits mainly in the Wyoming Trust Code (the Wyoming Uniform Trust Code, W.S. Title 4, Chapter 10), with the dynasty rule in W.S. 34-1-139. The Wyoming trust benefits that draw settlors are concrete: no state income tax on trusts, a 1,000-year dynasty duration, and strong self-settled asset-protection rules. The Wyoming spendthrift trust statute (the Qualified Spendthrift Trust, W.S. 4-10-510 through 523) allows a self-settled trust with a qualified trustee; the Wyoming directed trust statute, part of the same Trust Code, lets the family keep investment control while a trustee handles administration. A Wyoming certificate of trust — a short certification under the Trust Code — lets a trustee prove authority to a bank without handing over the whole instrument.

Wyoming is one of a limited group of domestic asset protection trust states — roughly a dozen and a half, alongside Nevada, South Dakota, Delaware, and Alaska. The Wyoming dynasty trust requirements are set by statute (an irrevocable instrument that opts out of the old perpetuities rule and is governed by Wyoming law with Wyoming administration), and the Wyoming dynasty trust pros and cons are worth weighing with an attorney: centuries of protected succession on one side, irrevocability and complexity on the other.

A trustee holds and administers the trust; a Wyoming trustee for an asset-protection trust must be a Wyoming qualified trustee — either a Wyoming resident or a Wyoming trust company authorized to do business in the state. That is a regulated, fiduciary role, and it is not the same as a registered agent. Wyoming trust companies, including private trust companies, are chartered and supervised by the Wyoming Division of Banking; the Wyoming private trust company statute and the Wyoming trust company requirements govern who may act as one, and several — such as a Jackson Hole trust company — are chartered in that part of the state. Some families favor using a Wyoming LLC as a trustee, or pair a Wyoming trust and LLC, to hold assets with an added layer of privacy.

To be clear about our role: Wyoming Registered Agent Prime LLC provides the Wyoming trust registered agent and files the statutory trust. We do not provide trustee services Wyoming settlors need for a private trust, and we are not a qualified trustee or a trust company. Where a qualified trustee is required, that is a separate appointment you make.

For a private trust — a dynasty, asset-protection, or spendthrift trust — yes: a Wyoming trust attorney drafts the instrument to fit your goals and your home state's rules, and that legal work is not something we do. For a Wyoming statutory trust, the formation is a Secretary of State filing we handle, with a registered agent included. In short, we file the statutory entity; a Wyoming trust attorney designs and drafts a private trust. We are a filing service and registered agent, not a law firm, and we do not give legal or tax advice.