Moore & Bruce

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Estate Planning


Moore & Bruce, LLP advises US, non-US and “multiple nationality” families with respect to trust and estate planning. The context is often not merely planning for the death of an individual or couple but how they will live their lives—life planning. The applicable rules are especially complicated when applied to two or more jurisdictions. As a practical matter, this subject overlaps both tax and immigration and nationality law.

One of the skills required is the ability to convey a range of technical information and common sense points to clients. Sometimes this is made more difficult by cultural differences. The attorneys at the Firm, by virtue of years of experience, are able to do this effectively. US taxation of foreign (i.e., non-US) trusts is a particular specialty. The Firm advises a number of foreign banks and trust companies with respect to these subjects.

We are known for advising individuals that may wish to renounce their US citizenship (these are often individuals that were dual nationals at birth) or to immigrate to the US, becoming US resident aliens for income tax purposes, sometimes US residents (domiciliaries) for estate and gift tax purposes) and sometime US citizens.

In addition to providing a wide-range of US individuals and families with traditional will and trust drafting services, we have recently been engaged in the following projects:

  • Redrafting a series of Bermuda trusts to conform to recent changes in the manner in which US-resident beneficiaries are taxed on trust distributions.
  • Creating a family gifting program, including family limited partnerships, to maximize the annual gift tax exclusion.
  • Structuring significant lifetime charitable gifts to balance income requirements and estate and income tax reduction strategies.
  • Advising a non-US private bank and one of its European clients on mitigating US estate tax on US Foreign Investment in US Real Property holdings.
  • Estate planning for a US family that controls Australian companies.
  • Estate planning for a mixed US and German couple with holdings primarily in Germany.
  • Advising as to catching up with filing of US tax returns and Foreign Bank Account Reports and renunciation of US citizenship by an “accidental American” who was born in the US to Swiss parents but never lived in the US after age 9 months.
  • Advising a US “long-term” resident as to the relinquishment of her US “greencard”