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Moore & Bruce, LLP is known for its work on private
client matters, both for US and international individuals
and families. For us, the key to this work is nature of the
relationship with the client. Clients know that the most
important thing for us is to serve their best interests. We
make every effort to understand the client, his or her
situation, what it is that individual is concerned about,
and what it is he or she wishes to achieve. Beyond this, we
try to help the client in ways sometimes that even the
client does not foresee. Life’s legal aspects and those
things that tie to these aspects are our daily practice; we
can sometimes point to things, large and small, that make a
great difference. Sometime this advice goes beyond advice on
legal points.
For example, a couple—she was French and he was US—wanted to
purchase a house in California. The obvious issues were the
terms of the purchase contract and mortgage, the structure
(Own it individually? Own it through a corporation or a
trust?), applicable income tax rules (including the Foreign
Investment in US Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA), exposure to
US estate tax rules, California State income, inheritance
and real property taxes and reporting rules, and provisions
for the closing, including the transfer of funds into an
escrow arrangement. Considering the clients and their
circumstances, we suggested that they safeguard from public
disclosure information about the purchase of the residence
and them. They immediately embraced the idea.
We put measures in place that, among other several things,
amended the real estate contact to enjoin the disclosure of
information by the buyer’s agent; this provision was
bolstered by a liquidated damages provision. What is more,
the seller’s agent and others involved were not given the
principals’ names. To this day, the names of the clients
have never been disclosed.
Areas of practice touched upon include domestic and
international tax, trust and estate planning, preparation of
wills and trust structures, matrimonial and related
subjects, advising banks, private banks, investment
advisors, and similar advisors, immigration and nationality.
We are leading advisers in the fields of international
private foundations, international trusts, emigration from
the US (including renunciations), and immigration to the US.
We are also very active in the UK (London) on matters
affecting expatriate US families and French families taking
up residence in the UK.
We advise all the best-known trust companies in Bermuda on
technical US tax issues and many trust companies, private
banks and similar institutions in other jurisdictions.
In our Washington, DC office, we represent many members of
the diplomatic corps, including Ambassadors and Deputy
Chiefs of Mission, heads of Nongovernmental Organizations,
and employees of the World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund. We are very familiar with the issues
surrounding so-called Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).
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