Europe

We act as the primary point of contact to the Family Office for worldwide tax, estate planning and asset protection queries for a Monaco-resident principal and the related trust/corporate structures established for his children, providing multi-level structuring advice (trust and corporate) and coordinating local counsel across jurisdictions to deliver project-managed, cross-border solutions, including succession planning for significant Jersey family trusts (governance and potential migration), coordination between Jersey and Australian structures to support obligations to children from two marriages (including entrepreneurial support for older children), and advice on incentivisation arrangements, with strong potential for ongoing multi-jurisdictional work as the children’s circumstances evolve.

Acting for a long-standing UK family office (c.30+ years) overseeing UK and offshore trusts holding a substantial UK commercial real estate portfolio (including hotels, student accommodation and retail), advising over the past 12 months on governance and succession planning (including drafting a family constitution), trustee liaison across jurisdictions, next-generation engagement and education, and UK–France succession and tax structuring in relation to French property holdings, including support on disposals.

We assisted in the probate and estate administration of a member of the family behind a successful British retail business. The deceased was UK resident ‘non dom’, but with arguable common law domicile, and survived by a spouse, children and grandchildren. He held assets globally, some within a complex web of lifetime trusts, and had made wills in different jurisdictions. We managed the difficult domicile claim, co-ordinated probate applications globally and balanced the dynastic plan for the business.

A typical case involved co-ordinating multi-jurisdictional succession and probate processes in a large international estate that had a global spread of beneficiaries with individual tax and asset allocation requirements. We successfully defended a challenge by HMRC to the deceased's domicile status, dealt with the presentation of a complex double tax treaty claim relating to immediate estate and Inheritance taxes, advised on the management of cross jurisdictional income and capital gains tax exposure during the administration period and on conflicts of laws issues impacting on the burden of tax liabilities, generally.

Following the unexpected death of the principal of a large trading business, post death tax planning to maximize inheritance tax reliefs, both on death and on the death of the surviving spouse in due course. This has involved complicated tax, trust and corporate issues to avoid significant tax charges on the restructure and a number of clearance applications with HMRC.

Advising a London-based private equity managing director on establishing and funding three Jersey-law limited partnerships (one per minor child) with bespoke governance to facilitate US$30m of lifetime gifting (US$10m per child) ahead of the Autumn Budget, using corporate general partners owned by the client and bare trust arrangements to hold each child’s limited partnership interest, and providing end-to-end project management (including selection of jurisdiction and service providers, succession planning and future-flexibility structuring, coordination with UK and Channel Islands advisers, and commissioning UK regulatory advice to shape the client’s director involvement), delivering a tailored solution for a sophisticated client with both UK and US tax profiles.

Advising a billionaire former hedge fund manager on the structuring, establishment and ongoing operation of a family office and its downstream investments, including reviewing and optimising the tax structuring of multiple fund interests in light of UK non-dom reforms and the client’s planned departure from the UK (while remaining until children finish school), and addressing complex cross-border UK/US tax issues arising from significant US investments and ongoing hedge fund-related compensation by coordinating our London-based US-qualified private client team with colleagues in our US office to analyse fund mechanics and implement structures that preserve the client’s required control and economic rights alongside wider succession planning objectives.

Acting for an Australian entrepreneur (nine-figure exit) on designing and implementing a cross-border family office and asset-holding platform focused on near-term tax efficiency and global investment deployment across Australia, the US and Asia, including establishing a Singapore investment company to manage East Asia/Australian investments, advising on US investments with our US-qualified London team, and supporting the Swiss office on employee incentivisation, alongside longer-term succession and governance planning for the client’s children (including Jersey trust structures to remove ownership from the Swiss office) and personal UK tax analysis in connection with the client’s planned departure from the UK following non-dom reforms, demonstrating our ability to coordinate integrated UK/US/Singapore advice.

Advising a married US/UK-connected couple (UK resident) on integrated estate and lifetime planning following implementation of coordinated US/UK wills in 2024, including establishing a US-compliant UK family limited partnership in 2025 as a gifting and succession planning vehicle, delivering associated UK and US tax advice in relation to substantial cross-border assets and real estate (UK/US/France) and significant vested stock holdings in a US-listed company in which the husband is president, and providing ongoing UK residence and Statutory Residence Test advice as the family considers leaving the UK.

Acting for corporates in complex and often multi-agency investigations concerning overlapping allegations of misconduct, financial crime and regulatory breaches.