Capabilities / Trust Services
Structures that separate ownership from benefit — so wealth is protected, directed, and passed on exactly as intended.
The instrument
That single distinction is what makes everything else possible. Assets held in trust are no longer personally owned; legal title sits with a trustee who holds them on terms you set, for people you name.
It is often thought of as a tool for death. It is just as much a tool for life — for protecting assets from creditors and claims, for holding wealth apart from a marriage, for planning tax across borders, and for keeping a business intact through whatever happens to its owner. A trust can be shaped precisely to a family's circumstances, and it holds when those circumstances are tested.
Structured correctly, assets held in trust are no longer yours to be claimed against. That separation shields the family's foundation from creditors, litigation, commercial risk and matrimonial claims — during your lifetime, not only after it. Structured carelessly, it shields nothing: the arrangement has to be sound before it is tested, because it will be. For business owners carrying personal liability, it is usually the first reason to act.
Trust assets pass outside the estate — no probate delay, no public record, no window for dispute. The deed specifies how and when each beneficiary receives what, so the intent behind the wealth survives alongside it. Dynasty structures extend that across generations.
A trustee unifies assets that would otherwise sit across banks, jurisdictions and advisers, working alongside private bankers, external asset managers and family offices under one mandate and one defined risk tolerance. The structure persists through incapacity and death, so the investment philosophy does too.
Trust documentation is not public, keeping financial and family detail out of the record. And a trust does not end when its founder does. It can hold a business without ownership fragmenting across heirs, carry a family's wealth and intent across generations, and sustain a charitable purpose indefinitely — governance settled once, and continuing on its own terms.
How it holds
You establish the trust and set its terms. Assets may be settled during your lifetime, or directed to it on death — from a Will, an insurance policy, or both.
Holds legal title to whatever it receives. It is neither you nor the beneficiaries — a separate arrangement that continues through your incapacity and beyond your lifetime.
Administers the trust strictly on the terms of the deed. Appointed by you, accountable to the beneficiaries. A licensed professional, not a relative.
Receive what you specified, when you specified it. No probate, no public record, no ambiguity to litigate.
The terms are yours. Age thresholds, staged distributions, conditions on use, provision for a beneficiary who cannot manage capital, protection for a family business, a standby structure that activates only when needed — all of it is settled in the deed while you are able to settle it.
What a trust is used for
Placing wealth beyond the reach of creditors, litigation and business failure, so that one setback does not take the family's foundation with it.
Holding family wealth separately from a marriage, so that what was built before it, or intended for the next generation, is not divided by it.
Addressing estate, gift and inheritance tax before it arises, where assets or beneficiaries sit in more than one jurisdiction.
Preventing ownership fragmenting across heirs, and settling who runs the company before the question is forced.
Supporting a beneficiary who is young, vulnerable, or not able to manage capital — on terms you set, for as long as needed.
Keeping capital intact and productive across generations, so that each transfer builds on the foundation rather than dividing it.
Carrying a business, a family name or a charitable purpose beyond any one lifetime — without probate, without publicity, and without renegotiation at each transfer.
Where to start
Enquiries
Tell us what you intend to protect. We will come back with who needs to be in the room.
