Referrals and Co-Counsel
Lawyers, wealth advisers, private bankers, RIAs, and family offices send a family when the U.S. structure will not support the account. We design or repair that architecture so the bank or custodian can open and maintain it, and so the adviser's relationship with the client can proceed. This page is how the introduction works.
A U.S. wealth adviser, private banker, RIA, or family office needs the client to arrive with a legal structure the institution can use. The bank or custodian has to open the account and then keep it: know-your-customer information that matches the deed, title that matches the trust and the entities underneath it, and a file the institution can administer after onboarding. When those pieces disagree, the relationship the adviser already has with the family cannot run. We design or repair the U.S. architecture so the account can open and that relationship can continue. The family stays the adviser's client.
Write with what a conflict check needs and no more: your name and firm, the jurisdictions, whether the settlor and any beneficiary are U.S. persons, the asset types, and whether you expect to stay in the matter. Do not send tax returns, account statements, or the full trust deed until we confirm that we can open a file. Information sent so we can clear conflicts is treated as confidential. We contact the family only as you and the family direct.
If we can take the matter, the engagement letter names the client and the written scope. A wealth adviser who introduces a family stays the adviser. Referring counsel who will remain in the matter is named in that scope: which firm drafts, which firm speaks with the family, and which questions are reserved for tax counsel. Calls include the wealth adviser when the family wants the adviser there. The adviser receives what the family authorizes. We coordinate with the adviser on the account the institution is being asked to open, and with tax counsel on the filing position.
Foreign-trust classification, reporting, and U.S. beneficiaries are on Foreign Trusts. The wider engagement for international families is Private Wealth. Advisers who will keep the relationship should use Counsel for wealth advisers.
A few lines are enough for a conflict check. We will tell you whether we can open a scope, and whether the next call should include the family.