Counsel for Wealth Advisers
Wealth advisers, private bankers, RIAs, and family offices introduce a matter when the family needs a structure the institution can actually use. KYC has to match the deed. Title has to match the trust and the entities under it. The documents the custodian keeps have to describe the same arrangement the family has been living with. We design or repair that architecture. You keep the relationship. The family is the client. Once the account can open and stay open, the work you already do with them can proceed.
You introduce the family so the structure will support the account you are opening or keeping. Investment advice, custody, and the planning relationship stay with you. Tax computations and the returns stay with the family's tax adviser. We are U.S. counsel for the legal structure: the trust, the entities, and the title a bank or custodian can administer.
We read the deed against sections 671 through 679, section 672(f), and the court and control tests in section 7701. The work product is a classification the tax adviser can file from, and amendments when the powers on paper are not the powers the family thinks it has. See FGT vs. FNGT and Foreign Trusts.
We identify who has a duty under section 6048, whether a distribution is a gift or a trust distribution, and whether a U.S. owner exists so that Form 3520-A is even the right return. Your client's CPA prepares the form. See Form 3520 and Form 3520-A.
Real estate in Florida and stock of U.S. corporations can sit inside a foreign trust and still be in a non-resident alien's U.S. gross estate. We separate that estate-tax question from the income-tax classification of the trust, and we coordinate the holding structure with the exemption of $60,000. See U.S.-situs assets inside a foreign trust and Wealth structuring for foreign nationals.
A green card, substantial presence, or a U.S.-born child changes the stack you have been administering. Section 679, PFIC and CFC exposure, and Form 3520 can turn on before anyone revises the investment policy statement. We do that review with you, before the status change if there is still time. See When a family member becomes a U.S. person.
You introduce the family, or the family writes and names you. We run a conflict check before anyone sends the deed or account statements, and what you send for that check stays confidential. The written scope names the legal work, who speaks with the family, and which calls you join. Tax counsel is on the calls that decide a filing position. You receive what the family authorizes you to receive. Investment advice and the advisory relationship stay with you.
A multi-generational stack — trust, holding companies, and accounts a bank will actually open and keep — is described on Foreign trusts for family offices. A lawyer who wants to refer a matter, or stay in on a written scope, should use Refer a cross-border matter. The broader private-wealth practice, beyond the trust, is Private Wealth.
La razón para presentarnos a la familia es el servicio: que el banco o el custodio pueda abrir y mantener la cuenta. Diseñamos o corregimos la arquitectura legal de Estados Unidos para que el KYC, el título y los documentos coincidan con el Trust y las entidades. La relación con la familia sigue siendo de ustedes. Coordinamos con el asesor patrimonial y con el asesor fiscal. Pueden escribir en español.
Form 3520 y el foreign trust · Antes de que un hijo sea US person · Distribuciones a un beneficiario US person
Tell us who you are and, in general terms, where the account is stuck: KYC, title, the trust, or the entities. Name the family only if you are comfortable doing so before a conflict check. We will reply with whether we can open a scope.