Your assets sit in five jurisdictions. Your family lives in two more. Who holds the map?
Trusts, foundations, succession and family offices — designed for families whose lives cross borders, and run from a jurisdiction built for exactly that.
What we solve
Wealth that crosses borders outgrows the documents that created it. A will written in one country, a company in another, accounts in a third and heirs in a fourth: each piece may be valid, and the whole may still fail — slowly, through probate in four places, or suddenly, through a dispute nobody planned for.
We design the structure that holds the map: trusts and foundations, succession plans, family offices and the governance that keeps them working after the founder steps back. Hong Kong is a natural base for that work — a major wealth-management centre with mature trust law — and where a step is a matter of Hong Kong law, it is completed with a locally licensed firm.
What we do
Trusts & foundations setup
Choice and design of the vehicle — Hong Kong or offshore trust, foundation, or a combination — matched to the family's law, tax and control constraints.
Succession & estate planning
Wills, letters of wishes and structures that move assets across generations without a court fight in four jurisdictions.
Family office establishment
Design and setup of single family offices in Hong Kong, Singapore or the UAE, including Hong Kong's tax concession framework for family investment vehicles.
Governance & family charters
Family constitutions, councils and decision rules that survive the founder.
Asset protection structures
Layered ownership that separates family assets from business risk — built before the risk materialises.
Tax residency planning
Residency mapping for family members across jurisdictions, and the sequencing of moves so the plan works in the right order.
Representative experience
Single family office established in Hong Kong
Designed and established a family office for a family with operating businesses in three countries, including the investment holding structure and governance documents.
Succession plan across four jurisdictions
Built a trust-based succession structure for a founder whose heirs live in different jurisdictions, replacing a patchwork of local wills.
Asset protection for a business owner
Separated family real estate and portfolio assets from operating-company risk through a foundation structure with clear governance.
Matters are described without identifying parties or amounts. More representative matters.
Partners recognised in Chambers and Legal 500.
Recognition sits with the individuals who run your matter — not with a logo. The partners responsible for this practice are listed in the leading independent directories.
- 01Initial meeting and conflict check, then a written assessment of your situation.
- 02A proposal with a clear fee structure and scope before any work begins.
- 03The matter is run with regular updates and direct partner access.
- 04A result report and a recommendation on next steps.
The team for this practice
Margaret Hale
Trusts and foundations, succession, family offices, capital relocation.
Irina Sokolova
Private wealth, trusts, succession planning.
Grace Lau
Wealth and tax support, document management.
Sofya Markova
Private wealth, trusts, family offices, succession.
Questions clients ask
Trust or foundation — which is right for my family?
A trust is the common-law instrument; a foundation is its civil-law cousin with separate legal personality. The right choice usually follows the family's home jurisdictions: what their courts recognise, what their tax rules respect and how much ongoing control the founder genuinely needs. We decide on facts, not fashion.
Is a Hong Kong trust workable if my heirs live elsewhere?
Often yes — Hong Kong trust law is mature, and the rule against perpetuities was abolished for new Hong Kong trusts in 2013, allowing structures of unlimited duration. The real work is the interplay with the heirs' home jurisdictions, including forced-heirship rules. We map those first, and sometimes recommend parallel structures.
What does setting up a family office in Hong Kong involve?
A vehicle, real substance — people and decision-making — and an investment mandate. Hong Kong introduced a profits tax concession for qualifying family-owned investment holding vehicles in 2023, which we factor into the design. Hong Kong law steps are completed with a locally licensed firm.
How do you keep family matters confidential?
By design and by habit. Trust terms are not on a public register; our working papers move on a need-to-know basis; contact is by email with your named team only. Discretion is the default, not a service level.
Can a structure protect assets from future business creditors?
A structure built in calm weather can legitimately separate family assets from business risk. A structure built when claims already exist invites challenge under clawback and fraudulent-transfer rules — and we will tell you so before you spend. Timing is most of the answer.
Who should act as trustee?
A professional trustee, a private trust company controlled by the family, or a combination. The choice trades control against independence and substance — and it shapes how banks and the courts of the family's home jurisdictions read the structure. We design the trusteeship deliberately, not by default.
How often should a wealth structure be reviewed?
At every major family or legal event — a marriage, a relocation, a sale of the business, a change in tax law — and otherwise on a regular cycle.
A structure that has not been reviewed for years usually still works on paper and no longer works in fact.
From the Private Wealth cluster
Family offices in Hong Kong: the entry point in 2026
Trust or foundation: choosing by the family's jurisdictions
Succession across four jurisdictions without four probates
Practitioner notes for this practice are in preparation and will appear in the Private Wealth cluster.
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