Cross-Border Estates: Coordinating with Counsel Abroad
A client of our chambers, recently retired from a senior position in oil and gas, holds assets in five jurisdictions: the UAE, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore and the British Virgin Islands. He came to us with three existing Wills, drafted at different times by different counsel, none of which referred to the others. Two of them, on close reading, were mutually contradictory.
His position is not unusual among senior expatriates of his generation. The remedy is straightforward in principle and exacting in execution.
We recommend, as a general rule, a separate Will for each jurisdiction in which substantial assets are held, with each Will expressly limited to assets within that jurisdiction. The Wills must be drafted in concert, with explicit cross-references and revocation clauses that do not inadvertently revoke one another. The original documents should be held by counsel in their respective jurisdictions, with certified copies held by the testator and by a coordinating solicitor.
The coordinating role is the part most often overlooked. Without it, the testator becomes the only person who understands the whole picture, and the picture dies with him. Our chambers performs this function for many of our cross-border clients, and we work directly with overseas counsel of the client's choosing.
Written by the solicitors of LEX Services for the senior expatriate reader.
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