If you're buying near the beach in Mexico, you'll hear one word constantly: fideicomiso. It sounds exotic, but it's a simple, decades-old mechanism — a bank trust that lets foreigners own restricted-zone property with essentially the same rights as any owner. Here's exactly how it works and where you need it.
The one-paragraph version
A fideicomiso is a trust in which a Mexican bank holds the *bare legal title* to your property while you, the named beneficiary, hold every practical right that matters — to live in it, renovate it, rent it out, sell it, and leave it to your heirs. The bank cannot use, mortgage, or claim the property; its role is purely custodial, and it charges a modest annual fee for it. Millions of foreign-owned coastal homes are held exactly this way. It exists for one reason — a constitutional rule about who can hold direct title near the coast and borders — and once you understand that rule, the rest is administrative.
Why it exists — the restricted zone
Mexico's constitution bars foreigners from holding direct title within 50 km of the coast or 100 km of a border. The fideicomiso is the legal workaround that lets you buy there anyway.
