Family Office. Expertise

We coordinate that all compliance requirements of our clients (e.g., legal, tax, currency control, etc.) are properly met. For this purpose, we:

• Understand all obligations that are applicable to our clients based on their tax residency status, citizenship, and personal situation.
• Draft a compliance calendar with all the deadlines and documents that should be prepared and submitted.
• Monitor the fulfilment of the compliance calendar (including drafting of all necessary reports, notifications, declarations, etc.).
• Control that all clients’ transactions are compliant with the applicable legislation.

Similar approach is applied to the private structures and vehicles of our clients (trusts, private foundations, special purpose vehicles, etc.).

We also provide legal and tax support for one-off projects, in particular:

• Relocation to another country and changing tax residency status.
• Setup of private structures.
• Drafting of shareholders’ agreements and similar corporate documents.

Usually, one of the main goals of a wealthy family is to engage a younger generation to the family business.

Based on our practice, this goal can only be achieved when two points are met. First one - setup of a family council with its own rules and principles, second - regular participation of all the members in meetings of the named family council.

It is not enough just to draft a so-called “family charter” and put it on the shelf. To engage a younger generation, it is advisable to perform the full set of actions, namely:

• Interview family members and determine their common views and disagreements about the family business.
• Discuss and agree on the rules of the family councils (place, time, agenda, procedure).
• Further, hold regular family councils according to the agreed rules.

We assist our clients with the moderation of family councils and engagement of all participants in discussion and implementation of the decisions taken at the family council.

Targets of family councils:

• Introduction of family members to the business structure and key employees.
• Defining each family member’s role in the business and their area of responsibility.
• Developing a motivation system for family members and discussing their KPIs.
• Agreeing on the rules of succession of the family business (who gets a stake in the family business, how and when)

It is important that ownership structure remains efficient and in line with current trends. Given this, we audit such structures from the perspective of:

• Management – we avoid excessively complex structures, seek to simplify them and exclude unnecessary elements.
• System of checks and balances – the structure should be robust against potential hostile actions.
• Costs – directors, accountants, auditors, and etc. should not overcharge, hourly rates should be excluded.
• Reputational risks – vehicles established in “blacklisted” jurisdictions should be excluded / redomiciled.

The above exercise provides us with the enough information to draft and implement a detailed road map to fix the identified weak points.

We help wealthy families develop and implement a bespoke succession planning strategy. In brief, our approach to this process can be described as follows:

• Q&A session  that allows us to identify inherited property and testator’s wishes to the succession of this property.
• Decision on the most appropriate instruments that allow to implement the testator’s wishes (will, private foundation, trust, and etc.). When selecting an instrument, we consider the imperative requirements of each country involved (e.g., forced heirs).
• Drafting of all the necessary legal documents to implement the above decision (will, trust declaration, rules of a private foundation, etc.) and coordinate signing thereof. If the assets are located in different countries, we also take steps to facilitate the receipt of the assets by the heirs.
• Drafting of simple directions for the heirs so that they can have a proper understanding on their actions that are required to get access to the inheritance.

We have a practical experience in closing of different types of private deals (both, “buy-side” and “sell-side”), in particular (i) residential real estate in UK, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Cyprus, (ii) commercial real estate in Portugal, Germany, Spain, Montenegro, UAE, Cyprus, (iii) corporate M&A, (iv) yachts and private jets, etc.

As part of such projects, we:

• Setup a due diligence data room and collect documents on the asset.
• Organize legal and technical (if necessary) audit of the asset.
• Design the transaction structure.
• Draft term sheet and all the required legal documents.
• Prepare the closing-agenda and coordinate transfer of ownership to the asset