How we work with clients

How we helped a family move from Canada to the US

Our Canadian family office was introduced to the Abadi family, a successful entrepreneurial, third generation family. The family patriarch (G1) is resident in the Middle East. His adult son, Ali (G2), is a Canadian citizen and resident who is looking to relocate to the US with his spouse and children (G3).

Ali’s Goals

• Relocate to the US as a family for education, lifestyle, and business opportunities.
• Conduct a strategic review of his family’s international footprint and structures to identify ways of simplifying them and ensuring compatibility with the US.
• Start considering succession planning and preparing the next generation to enable a successful inter-generational transfer of family wealth.

Our Recommendations

• Stonehage Fleming Law US reviewed the family’s existing structures and recommended winding down an existing “granny” trust in favor of a foreign grantor trust settled by his father.
• The same team and our UK law group worked with our expert fiduciary teams in Jersey (CI) and the US to devise appropriate structures ahead of the family’s move to the US to maximize global tax efficiency and the long-term objectives of the family.
• Our Canadian family office team introduced a Canadian expert who advised the family on the legal and tax aspects of their departure. Our US family office team introduced Ali to a US immigration attorney to assist with his family’s visa requirements.

Outcomes (To Date)

• Our Canadian and US family office teams supported the family with all the pre-arrival and relocation logistics and Stonehage Fleming Law US drafted domestic wills. The US family office team set up US bank accounts, helped coordinate credit facilities, arranged introductions to third-party insurance professionals for medical and property insurance and helped the Abadis acquire a new property. They remain on-hand for administration and operational support and servicing, including annual income tax compliance.
• Our US and Jersey (CI) family office teams established and act as fiduciaries and trustees for a US inter-vivos for Ali’s wife and children and of a foreign grantor trust for Ali.
• Our Jersey (CI) fiduciary team uses our treasury platform in Jersey for liquidity management and our investment management team in Switzerland provides active investment management to the Jersey (CI) trust.
• Ali’s children attended Stonehage Fleming’s Next Generation program.
• Lastly, our US tax advisory team manages and monitors ongoing tax compliance and filings for the family.

Disclaimer: Please note, all case studies have been carefully anonymised. Although scenarios are based on real life events they have been fictionalised and are an amalgamation of client experiences. All names, locations and occupations have been replaced with pseudonyms.