Dividing Estates, Protecting Wealth, Family Governance and Succession
Estates & Family Business
Treating an estate as a system of rights, assets and relationships, from its division to protecting the wealth and governing it for the generations ahead.
/ The Practice
We treat estates as a system that brings together religious and legal rights, assets, investments and family relationships, and we provide solutions reaching from the division of the estate to protecting the wealth and governing it for the generations ahead.
/ Practice Area Details
Scope: Handled by the estates and family business team, with the corporate and governance team joining where shares or companies pass within the estate.
Serves: Heirs and families that own businesses, owners of wealth and endowments, and family companies at the point management passes on
Focus: Division of an estate by agreement or by the court, claiming an heir's share, estate property and its management, recovering funds, gifts and wills, estate debts, family governance, generational succession, and structuring wealth and endowments.
Engagement: Identifying, valuing, dividing, ordering, governing.
Enquiries: View the Profile
/ The Reading
“My brother, holding power of attorney, dealt with our father's money before he died while he was ill. What now?” This is read from the disposition itself; its timing, the principal's condition at the time, and whether the power of attorney was valid are what settle its effect on the rights of the other heirs.
/ Scope of Services
Division of an Estate by Agreement
We help the heirs reach an agreement ordering the distribution of the estate's assets and the rights of each heir.
We focus on documenting the agreement clearly, which reduces the chance of a future dispute and preserves the parties' rights.
Division of an Estate by the Court
We represent the heirs in proceedings to divide the estate where an agreement cannot be reached.
We study the assets, the rights and the obligations and follow the steps needed to reach a division under the applicable statutory framework.
Claiming an Heir's Share
We help an heir claim their right in the estate where there is refusal, a dispute, or no access to their share.
The service covers studying the documents, the assets and the rights, and taking the legal steps that protect the heir's share.
Selling and Dividing Estate Property
We give legal support in selling estate property, ordering the steps for dealing with it, and distributing its value among those entitled.
We deal with the disagreements that can arise over valuation, the sale, or the distribution of the proceeds.
Managing Estate Funds Until Division
We advise on ordering the management of the estate's funds and assets in the period before division.
The aim is to preserve the assets, prevent unlawful dealings, and protect the rights of all the heirs.
Recovering Estate Funds
We claim funds or assets that belong to the estate but have not actually come into it.
We work to identify the asset or the right, prove the estate's ownership of it, and take the appropriate steps to recover it.
An Heir Concealing Funds or Assets
We deal with cases where an heir or another party is suspected of concealing funds or assets belonging to the estate.
We focus on identifying the assets, documenting the evidence, protecting the rights of the remaining heirs, and taking the appropriate legal steps.
Gifts and Wills Made Before Death
We advise and represent in disputes over gifts, wills and dispositions made before death.
We review the documents and the facts, whether the disposition was valid, and its effect on the heirs' rights and on the property in dispute.
Estate Debts and Obligations
We identify and examine the debts and obligations attached to the estate and meet the claims brought against it.
We also advise heirs and creditors on the rights, the obligations and the relevant legal steps.
Commercial Estates, Shares and Holdings
We provide legal solutions for companies, shares and holdings that pass to the heirs, including managing ownership, distributing it and exiting from it.
We help keep family disagreements from carrying over into the companies and the business.
Family Governance
We design the governance frameworks that order the relationship between the family, the wealth and the business, and set the roles, the authorities, the way decisions are taken and disagreements settled.
The aim is a balance between ownership, management and family relationships.
Generational Succession
We help families that own businesses and wealth plan, legally and structurally, for management and ownership to pass to the next generation.
We focus on continuity, on reducing the risk of dispute, and on responsibilities passing in an orderly way.
Structuring Wealth and Endowments
We advise on the legal structuring of wealth, assets, investments and endowments in line with the owner's objectives and the relevant regulations.
The aim is to protect the wealth, order how it passes, and strengthen its durability across generations.
/ Method
We identify the assets, the rights and the obligations and read the relationships between the parties, then set the route for division or claim and the documents that protect the rights. then we determine the documents or structure suited to the case.
/ What We Focus On
The right, without widening the quarrel
We aim at a settlement that preserves the heir's share and keeps the family relationship intact; where that fails we take the judicial route.
Identify before dividing
We begin by identifying the assets, the rights and the obligations, because dividing an estate that has not been identified produces a fresh dispute.
After the division
We order family governance and the passing of ownership, so the dispute does not repeat with the next generation.
