International Estate and Asset Protection Planning

Given the current economic, legal, and sociopolitical environment, G&A believes that estate planning attorneys have a duty to advise all clients on the necessity of, and the techniques for achieving, asset protection. Thus, the attorneys at G&A have extensive knowledge of, and practical experience implementing, the various techniques available to preserve individual wealth from threats such as divorce, litigation, future creditors, and investment risk. These techniques include the optimization of state and federal exemptions for assets, such as homestead, retirement plans, annuities and life insurance, marital property planning, the use of inter vivos marital, dynasty, and children’s trusts, and tax and entity planning. In addition, G&A is one of the leading firms in providing advice regarding wealth preservation and risk management through the implementation of foreign trust and related business, investment, and life insurance structures, and assisting clients with the tax planning and compliance aspects of such structures.

Leslie Giordani and her former partner, Duncan Osborne, directed the original editing and authored many chapters of the four-volume treatise, Asset Protection: Domestic and International Law and Tactics, which was published by Thomson/West Group (formerly by Clark Boardman Callaghan) in 1995. It remains the leading treatise in the area of asset protection. The attorneys at G&A maintain strong relationships with fiduciaries, money managers, and attorneys in more than a dozen foreign jurisdictions, and ensure the continued integrity of international planning by conforming to strict due diligence and “know your client” policies. In the area of “outbound” international estate planning, G&A attorneys are experienced in assisting U.S. clients with settling offshore trusts and forming various foreign entities that provide clients with a comfortable balance of control and protection of assets, allowing clients to manage their family’s wealth risk and accumulate assets for future generations.

With respect to “inbound” international estate planning, attorneys at G&A assist U.S. taxpayers and non-U.S. trustees with managing the complex U.S. tax aspects of foreign non-grantor trusts. In addition, with respect to international private clients, G&A attorneys provide advice on the applicable multi-jurisdictional tax and treaty issues they face, whether in connection with family members or business interests in the U.S., with pre-immigration planning, or with the tax treatment of trusts or entities they have created or plan to create.