Planning and structuring

Structures that hold up across borders and generations.

It starts with a plan that drives every decision. Structures, tax planning and transactions then follow from the plan, in every jurisdiction where your family lives, invests or holds assets.

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Folded ivory paper forms edged in gold, standing in an interlocking structure

Key services

Eight services

Planning comes first and structures follow. We coordinate the lawyers, tax advisers and licensed trustees who put them in place.

Goals-Based Planning and Wealth StrategyA plan that drives every decision.
Pre-Transaction PlanningStructuring and tax preparation before a sale or financing.
Cross-Border Tax StrategyYear-round planning across jurisdictions.
Estate, Trust and Succession PlanningStructures that carry family intent forward.
Trust ServicesTrustee and administration support through licensed partners.
Co-Investment StructuringVehicles, tax and protections when investing with others.
Liquidity and Exit PlanningBefore, during and after a business sale.
Concentrated Stock StrategiesTax-efficient diversification of large single positions.

The aim

Structures in place before they are needed, so a sale, a move or a transfer happens on the family's terms.

Licensed partners

Investment, trust and insurance services are provided with licensed partners where required.

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How this works in practice.

Customer scenarios

Scenarios on this page are illustrative and do not describe real clients. Investment, trust and insurance services are provided with licensed partners where required. This page is general information, not advice.

Scenario

Selling the family business

A buyer has made an offer. Closing is six months away.

The situation: A founder receives an offer for the company she built over twenty years. Her shares sit in her own name, two children work in the business, and the family lives in two countries.
What we would do: Before signing, we coordinate tax advisers in both countries, review whether shares should move into a holding or trust structure, and build a liquidity plan for the proceeds and any earn-out.
Where it leaves the family: The sale closes into structures chosen in advance, with a plan for the proceeds rather than a cash balance waiting for decisions.

Scenario

One family member moves abroad

A daughter is relocating for work, and the family structure moves with her.

The situation: She holds shares in the family holding company and is a beneficiary of a family trust. Her new country taxes trusts and foreign companies differently, and nobody has checked what the move does to the structure.
What we would do: Before she moves, we coordinate tax advisers in both countries, review how her interests are held and propose any changes while they can still be made in an orderly way.
Where it leaves the family: She moves on a known tax footing, and the structure still works for the rest of the family.

Scenario

Most of the family's wealth in one company's shares

Years after a listing, one share price decides the family's plans.

The situation: A founder still holds a large block of shares in the company she built, subject to the company's trading windows, and almost everything the family plans depends on that holding.
What we would do: We set out the options, from a staged sale to gifts and charitable structures, model the tax on each with the family's advisers, and agree a plan she can follow inside the company's rules.
Where it leaves the family: A written plan to reduce the concentration over time, each step agreed in advance.