- Charities, philanthropy and gifts
- Cross-border estate planning
- Education, training and preparation of next generation
- Emergency measures
- Emigration and immigration
- Estate planning
- Estate taxes and duties
- Family assets; art, portfolio, realty
- Family business
- Family disputes and solutions
- Family Governance and Family Charters
- Family Office
- Foundations and Trusts
- Last will and testament
- Living will
- Marriage contracts, nuptial agreements and matrimonial law
- Personal income tax
- Protection of assets
- Residency
- Structures to hold, control or manage family wealth
- Succession planning and transfer to next generation
- Tax Planning
What tax matters are important when emigrating?
What tax matters are important when emigrating from Canada? When you take up residence in another country, have you obtained advice on tax matters both on departure and on any risks of having continuing connections with your former residence? While it is possible with proper planning to minimize tax on expatriation to another country, it is equally important to reduce exposure to the risk of continued residence-based taxation in the former country. When my client Michael told me he was planning to leave Canada and needed tax advice, I prepared to give him some advice he was not expecting....
Covid-19 crisis – Succession planning and planning for incapacity
Covid-19 crisis - Succession planning and planning for incapacity The second wave of Covid-19 in this fall 2020 has shown that the virus is not yet under control and that it may still take us a long time to go back to a new normality. The pandemic has given us time to reflect, prioritize and take up projects that were on stand-by because of our busy lives. Many clients have had time to dedicate to solving family matters and have approached us to set up or review their estate planning and to establish mechanisms to protect them and their families in case of incapacity. Broadly speaking,...
Which opportunities do social businesses offer for venture philanthropy funds?
The innovative, market-oriented but yet not yield-oriented model of social businesses makes a good match for the distinctive approach of venture philanthropy funds. The term social business was coined by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. He founded the Grameen Bank, a community development bank in Bangladesh, which awarded microloans for micro-entrepreneurs and enterprises. Today, social businesses like the Grameen Bank represent 10% of all European businesses with over 11 million paid employees, according to the European Commission. It is therefore an important and growing...
Trusts and the importance of discretion
Controlling your Trust - A Matter of Some Discretion Two common reasons for the use of trusts in estate planning are to achieve tax efficiencies and to protect assets from potential creditors and claims. These are by no means the only reasons that trusts are utilized, but they are important benefits and are sometimes the primary focus of trust structure. Generally speaking, trusts that provide tax and asset protection benefits need to be structured so as to grant the trustees very wide discretion as to when distributions are to be made, to which beneficiaries, in what amounts, and in...
