This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and estate law differs sharply between countries. Anything involving assets in more than one jurisdiction needs a qualified adviser in each of them.
Start with the inventory, not the structure
Most estate planning goes wrong at the beginning, because people design a structure before they have written down what they actually own.
- 1List every asset: property, accounts, investments, pensions, business interests, insurance, and anything held abroad.
- 2Note where each one legally sits. A holiday flat in another country is governed by that country’s rules, not yours.
- 3Note how each one is held: sole, joint, in trust, or through a company. Ownership form often overrides your will.
- 4List every debt, including anything secured on an asset you intend to pass on.
- 5Note who is already named as a beneficiary on pensions and policies. Those nominations usually bypass the will entirely.
The nomination trap
A pension or policy nomination made years ago, naming someone no longer in your life, will generally be honoured over a newer will. Reviewing nominations costs nothing and is the single most commonly skipped step.
The documents that do the work
- A valid will
- Says who receives what and who administers the estate. Invalid execution is the commonest reason a will fails, and the rules are strict and local.
- A letter of wishes
- Not binding, but it explains reasoning to trustees and family. It prevents a surprising amount of conflict.
- Lasting power of attorney
- Appoints someone to act if you lose capacity. It must be made while you still have capacity, which is why leaving it is such a costly mistake.
- Trusts
- Separate legal ownership from benefit. Useful for control, timing and protection; they add cost, reporting and complexity, so they should solve a stated problem.
- Shareholder or partnership agreements
- Decide what happens to a business interest on death. Without one, an heir can inherit a stake nobody wanted them to hold.
When assets cross borders
Two countries can both claim taxing rights over the same asset, and can disagree about who inherits it. This is where costs escalate.
| Issue | Why it bites |
|---|---|
| Domicile versus residence | They are different tests, and each country applies its own. You can be taxed as belonging to a country you have not lived in for years. |
| Forced heirship | Some jurisdictions reserve fixed shares for children or a spouse regardless of your will. |
| Situs rules | Property is usually governed where it sits, whatever your will says. |
| Double taxation | Treaties may relieve it, but only where a treaty exists and is claimed correctly. |
| Probate in several places | Each jurisdiction may require its own grant, which multiplies delay and cost. |
| Currency and reporting | Values are fixed at dates set by law, not by you, and reporting deadlines are unforgiving. |
One adviser is not enough
For assets in more than one country, you need advice in each, coordinated by someone with sight of the whole picture. Advisers working in isolation produce documents that contradict each other.
The liquidity problem
Estates are often asset-rich and cash-poor. Tax and costs frequently fall due before assets can be sold, which forces a rushed sale at a bad price.
- Estimate the likely tax and administration cost, and ask where the cash to pay it comes from.
- Life cover written in trust can provide that cash outside the estate, which is often the cheapest solution available.
- Property and private business stakes are the least liquid things people own and usually the largest.
- Keep a small accessible reserve so the family is not borrowing to pay for a funeral.
The expensive mistakes
- No will at all, leaving intestacy rules to allocate the estate to people you might not have chosen.
- A will that was valid when written and was never revisited after a marriage, divorce, birth or move abroad.
- Gifting a home while continuing to live in it, which many tax systems disregard entirely.
- Appointing an executor who is elderly, overseas, or has no appetite for the job.
- Telling nobody where the documents are.
- Building a trust to solve a problem that a properly drafted will would have solved for a fraction of the cost.
Review on events, not on a timetable
Marriage, divorce, a birth, a death, a business sale, a move abroad. Any one of those should trigger a review; a quiet decade does not need one.
Next steps
Documents you may also need
Phased Legacy: A Generational Approach
Why transferring wealth in stages during your lifetime usually works better than one event after it, and how to structure the phases.
GuidesAlternative Assets: Beyond Equities
Private equity, venture, property, infrastructure and private credit — what each actually is, what you give up to hold it, and who they suit.
InsightsInsights Archive
Everything we publish, in one place: research, guides, masterclasses and the help centre — with an honest note on what an archive is and is not.
This document was last updated on 1 August 2026. We publish the current version here at all times; superseded versions are available on request.
If anything on this page is unclear, write to us and we will explain it.