Family Governance

As advisers, trustees, board members and administrators for international families across generations, we are well positioned to guide you in creating and implementing your own family governance plans to ensure a lasting legacy for your family and future generations.

What to expect from us

With the right guidance, today's families can create a lasting legacy for generations to come and even ensure steady expansion. Thanks to our independence, our multidisciplinary set-up and our decades of proven experience with families from all over the world, we assist you with the utmost discretion and consistently pursue your goals and those of your family with personal commitment.

Every family is unique in its make-up, be it through its countries of residence and cultures of its members, the circumstances of the first generation entrepreneur, family relationships, the number of family members or the nature of the wealth – active businesses as opposed to passive investments. Meeting a family's individual needs and goals requires a high degree of flexibility and the ability to anticipate. With our holistic approach, our long-standing experts with in-depth international knowledge identify your needs, your goals and your challenges in a personal exchange with you.

Services at a glance

Along with the many individual aspirations, there are topics that are common to all families. By learning from other families who have experienced wealth transfers, we can better understand the challenges families face in succession planning. These insights allow us to reflect on what works and what fails. At the same time, they provide ideas that can be adapted to the circumstances of each family. These findings allow us to propose a full range of solutions and offer you the following services in a highly personalised way.

Health check

We conduct health checks to assess and identify risk areas from a governance and legal perspective. In the process, we consider the family dynamics and relevant laws. These include inheritance law and taxation, which may be relevant depending on the residence and/or nationality of family members as well as the type and location of their entities and assets.

Reporting

Based on our personal dialogue with you and the thorough identification of your interests, your goals and your individual challenges, we document the planning objectives and the key planning elements.

Family risk management

Together with you, we identify the risks that conflict with your values, your goals, your security and your reputation. With a clearly defined strategy and prevention plan, we develop action steps to eliminate the risks and repair already existing damages. This also includes education regarding online and media presence, especially for the younger generation.

Development of solutions

Once there is a final mission statement, the specific elaboration of your individual solution takes place. Our experts and multidisciplinary teams work together to define your solution and ensure that all relevant aspects, especially from a legal, tax and regulatory perspective, are comprehensively examined and implemented.

Implementation

Due to our strong internal set-up, we also have the expertise to establish the proposed solution for you.
As a provider of international asset holding structures, we have many years of proven practice across the full spectrum of possible family governance solutions. Our expertise ranges from the drafting of tailored shareholder and partnership agreements to the establishment and management of trusts, foundations, investment funds and international as well as onshore companies.

Next generation preparation

Part of sustainable family governance for wealth preservation and expansion is the proper preparation of the next generation. This includes not only building knowledge around issues relevant to one's inheritance, wealth or business, but also providing an understanding of the family's values, goals and role in society. Our experts with interdisciplinary expertise provide your next generation with knowledge transfer around the topics that are relevant to you and your family's wealth. We adapt the programme and structure to your needs, whether this involves workshops, lectures or other types of events to pass on know-how.

What sets us apart

Flexibility

With us, you can count on complete flexibility. We can tailor the process according to your needs; the process can be formal with well defined steps and deliverables with documentation for each step of the process, or an informal process conducted mostly through a series of discussions.

Personalisation

Our personal engagement and ongoing dialogue with you ensure that proven principles are applied to your individual circumstances. At the right time and with your agreement, we generally seek to involve the next generation in the planning and implementation of your plan. This not only adds different perspectives and resources to the process but also fosters the next generation's understanding and acceptance of the plan.

Experience

We have first-hand, in-depth experience with families from all over the world. Over the years, this has resulted in our broad repertoire of proven solutions. Combined with our relevant international tax planning skills, we have developed best practices that ultimately serve your long-term plans.

Personal and without obligation – get in touch

Raphael Cica

Partner

Attorney-at-Law, LL.M.

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T +41 58 450 51 18

Miguel Good

Of Counsel

Attorney-at-Law, LL.M.

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T +41 58 450 58 97

Family Advisory

We provide families with all the advice they need to gain a better understanding of their family- and wealth-related needs and to structure their wealth accordingly.

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