Structuring
Trusts, foundations, holding companies and the quieter decisions that shape how a family's wealth is held and protected.
A €17.5m broker fee, a family office, and a ChatGPT search
Nik Storonsky's defence to a yacht brokerage's commission claim, filed at the High Court this month, turns on who found the seller. Introduction fees on passion assets are rarely documented as carefully as the rest of a family office's contracts.
Family offices are adding jurisdictions, not swapping them
TMF Group's white paper, published on 10 September 2026, found 31 per cent of family offices choose a jurisdiction to be near their investments, with political and economic stability each cited by 23 per cent.
Britain's third-largest taxpayer is reported to be moving to Athens
Bloomberg reported on 8 September 2026 that Chris Rokos is preparing to shift his tax residency to Greece. One departure proves nothing about a wealth exodus, but the mechanics of the move are worth reading closely.
Barclays opens its Singapore booking centre. The pitch to family offices is investment-bank access.
Barclays Private Bank began booking client assets in Singapore on 4 September 2026, nearly two years after announcing the plan. The interesting part is not the office but where the assets now sit, and what the bank is selling alongside custody.
JTC leaves the London market in a £2.7bn take-private, two months after absorbing Citi Trust
Permira and CPP Investments completed their acquisition of the Jersey trustee on 1 September. For the families whose structures JTC administers, the ownership of their trustee has now changed twice in fourteen months.
Singapore reworks its family office tax conditions, and sets a November deadline
MAS Circular FDD Cir 05/2026 changes the section 13O, 13OA and 13U conditions for single family office funds from 1 August 2026: phased hiring, wider spending bands, a simplified deployment test, and a three-month banking grace period.
The Buss family trust and the 17.8 per cent that carries a job
Five of Jerry Buss's six children want to sell the family trust's remaining Lakers stake. Jeanie Buss says a 2017 court order will not let them.
Liechtenstein's two largest banks report record client assets within a day of each other
LGT posted first-half profit of SFr281.6 million and assets of SFr412.6 billion, a record. LLB reported net profit of SFr105 million and client assets of SFr115 billion, also a record. Neither release says anything about family office money.
Osiris wins Guernsey fiduciary licences and makes the island its Channel Islands hub
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has licensed Osiris Management Guernsey and Osiris Trustees Guernsey. For internationally mobile families, the interesting question is not the launch but who sits on the board.
Hong Kong's family office tax bill is still moving, and officials are considering widening it again
The Financial Times reported on 11 August that Hong Kong officials are weighing extending the reliefs in its pending funds and family office tax bill to proprietary trading firms. The bill is still before the Legislative Council.
China starts taxing offshore trusts, and enforcement has already begun
Beijing has brought offshore trusts into the personal income tax net. Weeks later, reporting on fines against Hong Kong brokerages shows the enforcement side is running in parallel.
South Africa puts its 1988 trust law up for replacement, and trustees carry the load
The draft Regulation of Trusts Bill, published for comment on 7 August, would repeal the Trust Property Control Act and add annual accounts, annual returns and a lodgement rule that can invalidate trustee acts.
The Stonehage Fleming name is retired as the firm becomes Corient
From 15 July 2026 the Stonehage Fleming website is offline and the business trades as Corient, ending one of the oldest brands in European family office advisory.
Corient adds Paris multi-family office Letus as its European buying continues
Corient has agreed to acquire Letus Private Office, a Paris-based multi-family office overseeing about €4.1 billion, its latest European deal after Stonehage Fleming, Stanhope and Bedrock.
Cross-border families: residency and the non-dom shift
Wealthy families are more mobile than ever, and tax regimes are moving under them. Why residency planning is now a continuous discipline, not a one-off.
Corient buys Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital. The combined group manages $508 billion.
The largest independent UHNW wealth manager in the world now exists. Corient completed its acquisitions of Stonehage Fleming and Stanhope Capital on 1 June 2026.
Winston Taylor launches as 1,400-lawyer transatlantic firm with private wealth at its core
The merger of Winston & Strawn and Taylor Wessing UK went live on 1 June 2026, creating a £1.2bn firm that positions private wealth as one of four defining capabilities.
Liechtenstein rewrites its trust law. Existing structures have eighteen months to adapt.
A new Liechtenstein trust statute takes effect on 1 July 2026, requiring every private trust to appoint an information rights holder. Existing trusts must comply by 31 December 2027.
Single or multi-family office: an honest way to decide
Single family office or multi-family office? The trade-offs around control, cost and alignment, and an honest way to decide which fits your family.
Solorz signed one document. A court in Vaduz made it permanent.
Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz transferred founder's rights in his Liechtenstein foundations, tried to revoke the next day, and lost. His media empire now belongs to his children.
Preparing the family for a liquidity event
Selling the business turns operators into investors overnight. The families who handle it well prepare the people, not just the deal.
Choosing and working with a multi-family office
A good multi-family office buys you scale and expertise without the burden of building. The hard part is telling a good one from a polished sales process.
The UK non-dom regime is gone. Here is what replaced it.
After more than two centuries, the UK abolished the non-domiciled tax status from 6 April 2025. The replacement is a four-year relief for new arrivals and a transition facility for everyone else.
Trusts and succession: the questions that matter
Families reach for a trust before they have answered why. The structure should follow the intent, not the other way round.
How to set up a single family office, in the right order
A practical guide to setting up a single family office in the UK: where to start, the order most families get wrong, and how to assemble the right advisers.
What we are reading about family offices
No noise, no selling. A measured take on what's moving across family offices and private wealth.