Trusts in Swiss estates: hotchpot, clawback and the exposure of the foreign trustee to Swiss forced heirship claims, with a note on the Singapore and Hong Kong firewall provisions

Abstract Two Swiss Federal Supreme Court decisions have reshaped the exposure of foreign trustees whose settlors die domiciled in Switzerland. In BGer 5A_89/2024, the court held that assets of an irrevocable discretionary structure fall outside the estate and that naming an heir as beneficiary does not trigger hotchpot under Article 626 CC, although transfers remain open to abatement. In BGer 5A_347/2024, it held that the 1-year period of Article 533(1) CC runs separately against each recipient and starts only once the forced heir knows that recipient’s identity. The article translates this into trustee practice and shows why the Singapore and Hong Kong firewalls operate only at enforcement.