Cross-Border Services
The Stone King International & Cross-Border team is one of only a few teams nationwide that is dedicated to nothing but international succession, cross-border planning and overseas probate work, including:
- Advice to individuals
- Charity legacy advice
- Consultancy services to other law firms
All members of the team have been trained to deal with international and cross-borders matters in every jurisdiction of the world and particularly with multi-jurisdictional matters – where clients have assets in more than one overseas jurisdiction. Our specialist services include:
- Probate and Cross-Border Estate Administration
- International and Cross-Border Tax
- International and Cross-Border Estate Planning and Wills
- French Law Services
- French Conveyancing
- German Law Services
- Cypriot Law Specialists
- Greek Law Specialists
- Shari’ah Law Services
- Legal Services for UK Nationals Living in the US
- Legal Services for US Nationals Living in the UK
- UK Nationals Living Abroad
- UK nationals and residents with property abroad
Where appropriate the team works closely with, and co-ordinates advice with our proven network of preferred foreign lawyers including: notaires, notaries, Notars, attorneys, avocats, abogados and Rechtsanwälte. Our international lawyers’ network has been carefully selected over the years to ensure they are independent and that they share our values and enthusiasm to provide you, our clients, with joined-up, cost effective, global advice.
Watch: Choosing a solicitor for your cross-border will
This video explores factors to consider when choosing a solicitor for your cross border will and what the process may look like.
Advice to individuals
Our clients include UK individuals with assets abroad, and non-UK individuals who own assets in the UK. Some of our clients simply need advice on their modest holiday home abroad, while others are ultra-high net worth clients with assets in multiple jurisdictions.
The team’s work includes:
- Preparing wills for those with assets based in foreign jurisdictions.
- Preparing wills for non-UK residents to cover their UK assets.
- Succession planning.
- Inheritance tax advice and inheritance tax saving.
- Domicile analysis and habitual resident analysis.
- Foreign probate (estate administration / succession).
- Co-ordinating legal advice across different countries or jurisdictions.
- Providing assistance following the overseas death of a family member or friend.
- Notarisation and legalisation (with apostille) of documentation.
- Re-sealing of foreign grants of probate under the Colonial Probates Act.
- Project managing complex multi-national estates
Charity legacy advice
Charity clients tell us that Stone King is regarded as the ‘go-to’ firm for providing international and cross-border assistance to charities in England & Wales.
We understand the regulatory regime within which our charity clients must work and are particularly sensitive to reputational pressures.
We work closely with legacy teams to ensure that overseas legacies are collected quickly and cost-effectively.
Our forté is dealing with multi-jurisdictional, multi-million pound foreign estates, and negotiating both with HMRC and overseas tax-authorities to ensure that the charity inheritance tax exemptions are properly applied, insofar as that is possible, but we also work closely with charity legacy teams on smaller matters, often providing guidance on an informal basis.
International & Cross-Border consultancy services to other law firms
We are recognised as experts in international and cross-border succession and planning and regularly provide training to UK and foreign lawyers and other professionals including: notaries public, barristers, will writers, financial advisors and accountants.
Lawyers come to us because they are able to instruct us as specialists knowing we have no ambition to be instructed directly by their client, although we are equally delighted to accept referrals.
We provide a specialist consultancy cross-border service to both UK and foreign law firms, regularly assisting with private international law issues involving: the conflicts of laws, renvoi, forced heirship, matrimonial property regimes, double-taxation, succession treaty interpretation, common law domicile and civil law domicile.
Our advice often ‘unlocks’ deadlocked administrations, ensures assets pass to the correct beneficiaries and saves tax.
Related international services
In support of the specialist International and Cross-Border team, Stone King is delighted to offer the following services: