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We advise individuals and families on a wide range of
matters, including planning for the family’s future, estate
planning, disputes (including separation and divorce), care
and education of grandchildren and parents, care of
individuals with special needs, retirement planning, and the
like. By way of illustration, we have advised the patriarch
or a well-known on how he might help his sons get started in
their own businesses.
Planning for the passing of wealth from one generation to
later generations is a area of practice that we specialize
in. As part of this we have dealt with problems of
disability and incapacity in the younger generation and of
drug abuse.
With respect to separation and divorce, we are known for our
thoroughness in discovering assets—sometimes over several
jurisdictions—and negotiating and drafting very
comprehensive agreements. Property division and settlement
agreements, in our view, need to be as carefully drafted as
weighty transactional agreements.
We have helped families provide for the education and care
of children and grandchildren in very unique circumstances.
For example, we have helped with the creation of a large
number of trusts and foundations intended to take care of
these needs.
As regards special situations, we have helped create special
needs trusts for invalids and other disabled individuals.
For example, we have helped move a trust from the US to
South Africa, while retaining the ability of a US court to
supervise it, which was a necessity.
We have made arrangements for the care and treatment of
individuals living outside their “home country”, where rapid
access to hospitals and doctors was an issue. This entailed
planning with an air-rescue operator, a hospital in
Switzerland, and maintaining an account in the same city as
the hospital.
We frequently help individuals plan for their retirement.
Sometimes this entails planning for retirement in a
“foreign” country—not the one where they currently live and
work A US individual might be retiring to the UK or Italy. A
Swiss or German individual might be relocating to the US.
This work, we have found, requires listening, experience,
technical skills, and, perhaps most importantly, common
sense.
Clients frequently need not only the answers to their
questions but help recognizing the possible issues. Stated
differently, they need help with the questions as well as
the answers. They also often need a counselor who will
provide not just legal advice but also practical guidance.
A type of engagement that we are especially known for is
advising a family as to less obvious but still foreseeable
legal risks. For example, after considering the family
members’ filings in several countries over several years, we
advised them as to exposures to tax liabilities and
penalties for failures to file and report and inconsistent
immigration filings. What at one time was not a serious
problem, with increased penalties and monitoring, has become
a serious problem.
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