Estate Planning, Trusts & Succession

Make your wishes clear with help from our dedicated private client lawyers. Whether you are aiming to protect family assets, navigate cross-border tax issues or benefit a cause close to your heart, we will discuss your priorities, advise on options and put a plan in place.

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We have been acting for successful people and their families for more than a century. We work with families down the generations, and we know how important succession planning is to them.

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Nobody feels particularly excited at the prospect of making a will, but once it's complete you can feel reassured that you have certainty as to what will happen to your family and assets in the future. We always take a bespoke approach, helping you to structure your wills and trusts according to your particular needs and objectives. You may for example wish to give to charity in a tax-efficient way, or to prevent the next generation from inheriting too much, too soon. We can also help to create structures to protect family assets from creditor or divorce claims against heirs.
 

The law on succession varies enormously from country to country, but with 150 lawyers worldwide concentrating on this area, we can offer sophisticated advice on how to minimize taxes and risk, while maximizing flexibility for the family. This may involve lifetime gifts, living wills, post-mortem estate planning and inter-generational transfer of wealth.

Our team includes recognized leaders in UK and US tax and estate planning, elder law, probate, landed estates, philanthropy and trusts. We have a particular strength in issues related to the UK and US, with a team which has one of the largest number of US-qualified lawyers in London, as well as a presence in Hong Kong and Singapore. In addition, we have lawyers qualified in Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan; lawyers well-versed on Italian succession; and Russian lawyers, who frequently advise families from Asia, Russia and the CIS.
 

Lifetime planning

A common goal of lifetime planning is to pass on assets in an orderly way and to minimize any inheritance tax burden. Whether you wish to make lifetime gifts in the form of money, real estate, shares, artwork or other assets, we can advise on how to do so in a tax-efficient way. Good lifetime planning can also ease the succession process and certain structures can be created to assist with this. It is also our job to stress-test your lifetime planning to ensure that there are no unpleasant surprises later on.