> How hard could it be to set up a trust

I have little knowledge of these things either, I've only heard second hand because aspects of historical tech $work used to put me in close proximity to professionals who deal with these things. Eventually you get a noob level understanding once you've been in the same room long enough.

TL;DR A trust is not a "simple" legal form like a company is.

You have to consider the three-way "internal" relationship (settlor <-> trustee <-> beneficiaries). Which can be legally structured as you wish (blank sheet when writing the trust deeds). And then for "external" relationships (trust <-> third party), the in-country law will apply and so you need to know how that fits in.

Then you need to know what type of trust you want. Do you want a Fixed Interest Trust ? A Discretionary Trust ? A Charitable Trust ? A Special Purpose Trust ? Something else ?

Then you have things like professional relationships. Your trust will, for example, almost certainly need an in-country bank account. Your professional advisor will almost certainly know some bankers.

So sometimes its easier just to hire an advisor, work through the prep, then fly in for the day for a nice lunch with your advisor to sign a few papers.