How we work with clients

Supporting a Canadian business owner relocate from Geneva to the US

Kimberly is a Canadian entrepreneur and business owner. She spent many years working in Canada and Europe.

She is currently a resident in Geneva but spends time between the UK, Canada, and the US where her relatives live, including her two grown daughters. She has decided to relocate to the US. The relocation process will involve a complicated restructuring of her international business and personal interests, including a large art collection.

Kimberly’s Goals

• Relocate to the US.
• Resolve ambiguities in her tax position, property and possessions internationally.
• Ensure a maximum of assets are passed down as her legacy to her children and wider family overseas.

Our Recommendations

• Family Office team in the US to work with Kimberly’s advisers across all the jurisdictions where she has been a resident, has a tax footprint, to review her existing structures and make recommendations to maximize tax efficiency and meet the long-term needs of her family.
• Stonehage Fleming Law US to conduct a review of all Kimberly’s existing business roles and directorships to assess how becoming a US tax resident would affect such positions.
• Stonehage Fleming Art Management to review the art portfolio and develop a clear strategy for its management and protection.

Outcomes (To Date)

• Family Office team in the US supported Kimberly with all the relocation logistics. They set up both US and offshore bank accounts, arranged medical insurance policies, a medical concierge for the family and arranged the purchase of a car. Furthermore, the team remain on hand to support Kimberly on an on-going basis as required.
• Family Office in the US established and provides ongoing support to three family trusts for which our Family Office teams in Jersey and Switzerland act as fiduciaries and trustees.
• Kimberly now has peace-of-mind in relation to the safeguarding of her family legacy, with our recommendations incorporating succession planning and asset structuring and the protection of her art collection.

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.