Estate planning

Estate planning is a process where your requirements and goals need to be defined early in order to meet them on time and for the long term. We work together with private banking, specialist accountants and lawyers to provide planning and structuring of both private wealth and business assets to achieve tax efficiency and smooth succession from one generation to the next. Our clients are national and international especially those wishing to relocate to Switzerland.

Trusts

There are many reasons for using a trust for purposes of wealth planning and protection, for example:

Future Generations

Trusts may be used to protect against an inability to handle money. It is not unusual for an individual to create a trust with a corporate trustee who may then disburse funds only for causes articulated in the trust document.  Children and grandchildren are often the beneficiaries and the trustee will often be instructed to assist the beneficiaries in the role of a financial guardian during their minority.

Privacy

Trusts may be created purely for privacy. For many the terms of a will are public and the terms of a trust are not. For some families, this alone makes use of trusts ideal.

Tax Planning

In many cases the tax consequences of using the trust are far better than any alternative however Trusts often receive bad publicity because they also attract tax evaders.

Asset Protection

A trust allows a person to divorce themselves personally from their assets which protects the assets from future creditors. The creditors may sue for personal bankruptcy but cannot touch the trust. It straddles ethical boundaries and is misused by criminals.