International Estate Planning

Expert International estate planning lawyers

International estate planning is important for anyone owning foreign assets – whether you are an individual who has a holiday home in Europe or you’re a high-net-worth entrepreneur with global business interests and properties. The last thing you want is to be faced with unexpected and unwelcome taxation and inheritance rules in another country. 

Why consider international estate planning? 

Effective estate planning involves considering each asset you own and looking at how the rules of the relevant country may apply. With assets and business interests outside of the UK, there may be complicated cross-border succession and taxation issues that need special consideration to ensure your goals can be met.

The expert international estate planning lawyers at Osbornes have significant exposure to clients owning foreign assets, including in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, the USA, Brazil, Argentina and beyond. Our clients are British nationals, UK-based foreign nationals, ex-pats and non-doms. 

We provide a tailored strategy

Robust estate planning and wealth structuring for clients owning cross-border assets is a complex business requiring detailed technical knowledge of local laws and regulations. This includes how succession, forced heirship and inheritance tax rules apply in a given jurisdiction and how they may conflict with UK rules. It may also be necessary to consider how the EU Succession Regulation may impact clients.

We, therefore, work closely with local lawyers in different jurisdictions, as well as chartered tax advisers and other professionals, to achieve the most effective mechanisms to protect clients’ assets and interests.

Our approach to each client is holistic; we strive to understand the full extent of your unique financial circumstances and foreign holdings, and then we consider your specific priorities and goals.

Only then will we develop a bespoke strategy that utilises the rules in the relevant jurisdictions alongside English rules to best protect your assets and estate.

Read our blog post Cross Border Issues – Wills and Succession