Private Client

Estate planning in the 21st Century has become increasingly complex and multi-layered. Evolving cultural dynamics amongst generations and multi-jurisdictional families present their own set of unique challenges, each requiring a bespoke and tailored solution. In this dynamic and compliance-focused environment, our private client offering is specifically designed to help you make critical and timely decisions that affect your personal and business concerns, domestic or overseas.

Based on decades of experience in advising prominent Indian family businesses, entrepreneurs, and global high net-worth Indians on a broad spectrum of issues, we possess a deep understanding of the intricacies involved in crafting a lasting and resolute legacy – one which is not simply defined by your quantifiable wealth but also your hard-earned intangible assets (i.e. reputation, goodwill, and family values).

As a top-tier law firm, our partner-led approach equips our clients with the right tools for the task at hand, whether it involves engaging with delicate questions of inheritance or creating effective and tax-efficient business succession structures. Our robust strategies help our clients better navigate the complex and multi-faceted labyrinth of domestic and cross-border wealth transfers, family disputes, immigration advisory, tax and regulatory compliances and philanthropy. We also extensively advise family offices on regulatory matters and family governance functions.

Our Services Include:

Estate Planning and Testamentary Services

• Estate Planning: Crafting comprehensive estate and succession plans for multi-jurisdictional families with wealth spread across the globe, leveraging the firm’s expertise in family law, real estate, fund management, taxation, and dispute resolution.
• Succession Planning via Private Family Trusts: We design trust structures to protect family assets and shield personal wealth from business and commercial liabilities, ensuring smooth asset transfer across generations.
• Wills and Testamentary Documentation: We assist with the preparation and execution of wills, ensuring that your wishes are clearly outlined and legally binding.
• Power of Attorney for Medical Incapacitation: Protecting your health and decision-making autonomy in unforeseen circumstances.
• Guardianship of Minors or Persons with Disabilities: Securing the future and well-being of loved ones requiring special care.

Probate and Succession Planning

• Probate Assistance: We guide clients through probate, ensuring smooth estate administration and legal compliance.
• Testamentary Disputes: Representing the legal heirs or the Executors in civil suits in respect of the validity of the Wills or the administration of the estate.

Family Office and Wealth Structuring

• Family Office Set-up: We assist in creating family offices to pool family wealth and manage investments in India and globally.
• Cross-Border Asset Structuring: We provide tax and regulatory-compliant solutions for managing family assets and properties across jurisdictions.
• Pre-IPO and Start-up Structuring: We streamline family interests in business, especially for companies in the pre-IPO stage or emerging start-ups.

Governance and Leadership Transition

• Family Governance Mechanisms: We help establish governance frameworks for family-owned or listed companies to ensure smooth leadership transitions, continuity planning, and conflict resolution.
• Conflict Resolution and Family Settlements: Our team works proactively to mitigate conflicts within families, offering solutions through family arrangements or settlements.

Risk Management and Crisis Management

• Reputation Management and Crisis Response: We help manage and protect family reputations and offer strategic advice on navigating public relations crises.
• Regulatory Advice: Our experts provide guidance on compliance with securities laws, takeover regulations, and foreign exchange regulations, liaising with key regulatory bodies like the RBI and SEBI.

Philanthropy and CSR Strategy

• Philanthropic Endeavours: We assist families and businesses in structuring charitable pursuits in a tax-efficient and regulatory-compliant manner, aligning corporate social responsibility (CSR) with personal philanthropic goals.

Luxury Assets and Art Acquisitions

• Legal Support for Luxury Acquisitions: We offer legal assistance for acquiring luxury assets, art, and antiquities, ensuring all transactions are structured effectively and securely.

Immigration Advisory

• Immigration Services: We advise pre-immigration planning, advice on acquiring alternate citizenship and residency for multi-jurisdictional families, renunciation of Indian citizenship and obtaining Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card.

SELECT REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE OF OUR TEAM

• Trilegal’s Private Client experts advised one of India’s largest infrastructure development family businesses (net worth exceeding USD 4 billion) with their family governance structure. The engagement involved setting-up multiple private trust structures and private foundations, along with a robust family constitution outlining certain principles of succession and family values.
• We assisted one of India’s wealthiest business families in drafting a comprehensive family settlement agreement to provide a bespoke and intricate ‘fail-safe’ structure for protection against an untoward event of a forced intestate succession.
• Our team established a ‘master trust – sub trust’ private family trust structure in India and the US for the promoter family members of a listed business in the publication and education sector.
• We assisted the executors of the estate of the promoter of India’s leading luxury hotels group in administrating the estate and representing them in the testamentary dispute before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court.
• Our Private Client experts represented the promoter family of a leading ports and logistics business in a civil dispute with another branch of the promoter family wherein certain shares of the company were alleged to be ancestral family property / Hindu Undivided Family property.
• We prepared testamentary documents ensuring an appropriate guardianship of a family member with special needs
• Our team of Private Client lawyers structured advisory related to various jurisdictions such as Singapore and the UAE for setting-up overseas family offices for a high net-worth individual, with the objective of global diversification of family wealth.
• We handled several international estate planning assignments for high net-worth individuals who are citizens or residents of the UK, the US and other countries.
• Our Private Client experts advised an institutional trustee on the Indian foreign exchange rules governing the distribution of the corpus and income of a private discretionary trust in India to the NRI beneficiaries and repatriation thereon.
• We led estate and succession planning for the members of royal family in the Middle East region (net worth exceeding USD 2.5 billion)
• Trilegal’s Private Client lawyers assisted in charity structuring for the philanthropic endeavours of certain members of the royal family in Europe.

Our Partner

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  Tanmay Patnaik

  Corporate, Private Client