Asia Private Client & Trust

Offshore family trusts are an efficient and practical way to assist high-net-worth individuals and family businesses in Asia to manage their wealth, tax and succession planning. Conyers has longstanding expertise assisting clients in Asia to structure and manage offshore family trusts.

Expertise, judgment and sensitivity are key requirements when considering the protection of your assets, estate planning and privacy. Your dedicated Conyers team is renowned for its expertise on offshore trust laws and structures and can advise you on the applicable family trust that best suits your circumstances, family dynamics and business requirements.

With our deep knowledge of the laws of the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands and Bermuda, we bring extensive experience in structuring trusts that offer the most efficient ways to manage your wealth, secure succession and protect your assets. We have the expertise to meet all your private client needs, from establishing trusts, to restructuring in response to changing tax or family circumstances, to ongoing trust administration and advice on ongoing regulatory requirements.

With offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, Conyers private client and trust lawyers are highly aware of local cultural sensitivities when setting up family trusts, and take special care to meet those concerns.

What is an Offshore Trust?

An offshore trust is a financial vehicle used for asset protection and wealth preservation, taking advantage of different laws and regulations in offshore jurisdictions to provide flexibility in the management and distribution of assets in a tax neutral environment.

Longevity and Experience

Conyers offers you one of the most experienced international offshore private client and trust teams in the world. From our offices in Bermuda, the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, London and Singapore, together with leading onshore tax and legal advisers, we serve a diverse international group of clients ranging from individuals and families to corporate entities. These include significant high-net-worth and high-profile business owners, family-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, charitable entities and professional trustees.

Our private client team is complemented by experienced trust litigators who regularly act for trustees, protectors and beneficiaries in substantial trust litigation.

International Scope

Our depth of experience allows us not only to deliver a high level of technical advice on trust law and structures based in Bermuda, the BVI and the Cayman Islands, but also to add value by sensitively providing creative solutions to the challenging dynamics of managing family and business assets in the complex modern world, across international borders.

Our services include:

• Dynastic estate planning tailored to a client’s unique circumstances
• Creation of charitable and philanthropic foundations, purpose trusts, employee benefit trusts, BVI VISTA trusts and Cayman STAR trusts
• Trustee and fiduciary services
• Family office establishment and operations
• Corporate governance of cross-border structures for private trust companies to bolster the substance of family and business succession planning
• Restructuring trusts to extend the duration of a trust, to improve tax efficiencies or adapt to changes in family circumstances
• Advising on fiduciary decision-making and related issues and trustee liability issues
• Prenuptial agreements and protection of trusts from divorce
• Advising on regulatory issues affecting trusts, including with regard to beneficial ownership regimes, tax information reporting and economic substance
• Customised reporting solutions for both FATCA and CRS compliance
• Advising on BVI, Cayman and Bermuda probate, letters of administration and trusteeship