PRIVATE WEALTH & FAMILY OFFICES

PRIVATE WEALTH & FAMILY OFFICES

The Middle East is home to a high concentration of regional and global ultra-high net worth individuals (“UHNWIs”). For more than 15 years our Private Wealth & Family Offices advisory team have been at the forefront of advising families, trustees and UHNWIs on innovative, bespoke estate and succession planning structures, asset protection and family governance.

Advising family business groups and UHNWIs, in relation to personal and often sensitive issues such as family governance and succession planning, requires not only a sound appreciation of best practices and cultural insights, but also an intimate understanding of the regional regulatory frameworks that govern family-owned enterprises in the Middle East. In addition to advising on daily operational and corporate mandates, our clients seek our assistance when implementing cross-border succession plans, restructuring existing estate plans and devising sustainable, but contemporary family governance mechanisms.

Our renowned team advises on a range of Private Client, Wealth Management and Succession Issues, including:

• Asset Protection
• Estate & Succession Planning
• Family & Family Office Governance
• Family Charters & Family Constitutions
• Charity and Philanthropy
• Foundations & Trusts
• Shari’a Compliant Succession Planning
• Cross Border Estate Planning
• Pre-Immigration Tax & Legal Planning
• Wills & Probate
• Family Dispute Resolution
• Establishing Family Offices
• Optimizing Legal Structures

Representative Private Wealth & Family Offices’ matters include:

  • Structuring group entities, establishing segregated family holding companies, restructuring of various subsidiaries and finalising a formal family governance charter
  • Advising on asset protection issues and devising a wealth preservation framework to ensure sustainable succession and effective governance and ownership of Family Wealth
  • Advising on incorporation of a Family Office in conjunction with establishing a Foundation (and underlying corporate entities) and addressing associated succession issues within a Family Charter
  • Restructuring of various holdings (previously owned by multiple entities) to enable the formation of a family holding company and sector-focused subsidiaries, as well as the structuring and formation of family branch companies to hold the different interests in the family holding company
  • Review and implementation of a family charter and governance system, together with requisite Group restructuring arising out of the implementation of the family charter
  • Restructuring of group entities resulting in the formation of a holding company and the simultaneous review and implementation of a family charter to better govern the harmonious relationship between family members