- Charities, philanthropy and gifts
- Cross-border estate planning
- Education, training and preparation of next generation
- Emergency measures
- Emigration and immigration
- Estate planning
- Estate taxes and duties
- Family assets; art, portfolio, realty
- Family business
- Family disputes and solutions
- Family Governance and Family Charters
- Family Office
- Foundations and Trusts
- Last will and testament
- Living will
- Marriage contracts, nuptial agreements and matrimonial law
- Personal income tax
- Protection of assets
- Residency
- Structures to hold, control or manage family wealth
- Succession planning and transfer to next generation
- Tax Planning
Which opportunities do social businesses offer for venture philanthropy funds?
The innovative, market-oriented but yet not yield-oriented model of social businesses makes a good match for the distinctive approach of venture philanthropy funds. The term social business was coined by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. He founded the Grameen Bank, a community development bank in Bangladesh, which awarded microloans for micro-entrepreneurs and enterprises. Today, social businesses like the Grameen Bank represent 10% of all European businesses with over 11 million paid employees, according to the European Commission. It is therefore an important and growing...
Acquiring a Vacation Home in the US
If you are acquiring a vacation home in the USA, you can avoid common pitfalls and take full advantage of opportunities by using appropriate structures to preserve your assets and do so on a tax-effective basis. Vacation home in USA My client, David, recently told me that as a so-called “snowbird” going to Florida each winter, he wanted to acquire a vacation property there. I advised him that a Canadian resident who dies owning property with a U.S. situs in law, such as the Florida Property which is real estate located in the United States, may be subject to U.S. estate tax at an...
How to implement strong Family Governance?
When dealing with family governance, family advisors should keep in mind the following steps: establishing a proper diagnosis of the family needs, implementing appropriate tools and increasing involvement toward family. Implementing strong family governance First, family advisors must pay particular attention to the following: family governance cannot and must not be mixed up with corporate governance, even though family play a key role in family held corporations. Both entities do not follow the same goals and are therefore not subject to the same kind of management. Family governance...
Tax planning and moving to Canada
The Importance of Tax Planning when moving to Canada For anyone planning to immigrate to Canada, or former Canadian residents preparing to return after a period of non-residency, it is worth taking the time to do some pre-immigration tax planning. It may well be that the Canadian tax environment is a lot more aggressive than where you’re coming from. If you wait until after you arrive to start arranging your affairs, it will be too late. Each personal or family situation will be unique and will benefit from bespoke professional advice, but this note will outline a few things that a...
