Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation

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Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation

Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation

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Wealth planning should preserve and enhance private wealth and safeguard it from risk. Risk arises from factors like business activities, capital and cash constraints, family discord, human vulnerabilities, mortality, economic shifts, natural disasters, taxes, and asset allocation.

Traditional wealth planning practices are necessarily evolving. We are market leaders in wealth planning and pioneers in this evolution. We think holistically to produce clear and effective plans for the intergenerational transfer of wealth and imaginative solutions to the varied issues facing the private wealth sector.

Committed to introducing international best practice, we set ourselves apart by incorporating expertise from mature foreign jurisdictions. We proudly think differently to other advisers. Leveraging Dentons' global platform uniquely equips us to tackle complex cross-border issues arising from the movement of capital and talent.

Our family office clients have access to the Dentons Family Office Hub, an online portal providing curated thought leadership, an exclusive community of peers, and access to deal flow. Our team includes tax and litigation specialists, and we provide a comprehensive suite of services to our clients, including:

designing and implementing strategic wealth plans utilising a range of appropriate tools and structures;
migrant wealth and tax planning, including residency by investment advice and guidance on the Active Investor Plus visa;
expert advice on trust law and governance;
drafting and negotiating relationship property agreements and advocating in related disputes;
advising and advocating in contentious trusts and estates matters;
advising charities, not for profits and philanthropists on structuring, governance, and compliance;
family business governance and succession; and
family office design and governance.

Experience

High Net Worth Individuals and Families: (including athletes and founders) designing and executing strategies and reorganising existing structures to preserve and enhance wealth for future generations through trusts and other fiduciary relationships.
Global Multi-Family Office: reviewing trust service agreements and corporate governance arrangements. Developing a best practice trust administration manual.
Investor Migrants: advising numerous global family offices and investor migrants in relation to residency by investment strategy. Assisting with execution of that strategy and associated immigration, visa, tax, estate planning and commercial advice.
Trustees and Beneficiaries: advising in relation to numerous contentious trusts and estates matters, often in collaboration with our global colleagues in relation to cross-border litigation. Acting in proceedings to declare trusts invalid, remove trustees, review fiduciary decisions, freeze assets, and obtain disclosure orders.
Court Challenges and Approvals: various challenges to certain fiduciary decisions made by trustees and applications for approval of others.
Global Bank: advising in relation to the sale and transition of a substantial fiduciary services business.
Global Family Office: advising in relation to the tax implications of the principal family member changing domicile and residency from one jurisdiction to another.
Protective Trust: advising in complex cross-border litigation relating to a unique trust structure to hold and manage substantial payments for a vulnerable minor beneficiary.
General Counsel and Strategic Advisor to:
- numerous high net worth migrants;
- foreign investors; and
- professional trustees and family offices.
International Wealth Structures: advising foreign law firms, trustees and wealthy families utilising New Zealand foreign trusts and limited partnerships as tax neutral vehicles to hold offshore assets.
Regulation and Compliance: advising financial institutions, professional trustees and service providers in relation to tax and regulatory compliance matters.
Family Businesses: advising on the transfer of family businesses from one generation to the next or advising on business sales and profit distributions to family members. Negotiating a business ownership restructure following a breakdown of the business owners’ marriage.
Strategic Philanthropy: advising philanthropists, grant makers and investors on giving strategies and impact opportunities.

Recognition

Dentons in New Zealand achieves top rankings in Chambers High Net Worth 2024

July 22, 2024

Dentons is proud to announce that our Private Wealth practice has retained Band 1 ranking and is the leading Private Wealth Law firm in the renowned Chambers and Partners High Net Worth (HNW) Guide for 2024. This recognition demonstrates the firm's unwavering commitment to excellence, exceptional client service, and unparalleled expertise in serving high net worth individuals and families.

Dentons Partner Henry Brandts-Giesen recognised in Who’s Who Legal: Private Client 2023

December 20, 2023

Dentons is proud to announce that Private Wealth Partner Henry Brandts-Giesen has been recognised in the renowned Who’s Who Legal: Private Client Report for 2023.

Dentons Kensington Swan retains coveted Band 1 ranking in Chambers and Partners 2023 High Net Worth Guide

July 24, 2023

Dentons Kensington Swan is proud to announce that our Private Wealth practice has retained Band 1 ranking and is the leading Private Wealth Law firm in the renowned Chambers and Partners High Net Worth (HNW) Guide for 2023.

View all recognition for Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation

Insights

Further changes are on the horizon for New Zealand’s AML/CFT regime

October 8, 2024

New Zealand: Since the publication of the Ministry of Justice’s statutory report on the review of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act (Act) released in July 2022, several of the Ministry’s recommendations have been implemented through changes to the regulations made under the Act. The remaining recommendations require changes to the Act itself. This has prompted the New Zealand Government to release a cabinet paper, which sets out proposals to, among other things, introduce a bill amending the Act (Amendment Bill).

Settlor inadvertently fails to create trust

October 7, 2024

New Zealand: The High Court has just released a judgment in relation to a failure to achieve the third certainty of creating an express trust, certainty of objects. Re Application by Hoglie Trustees Limited (as Trustee of Larry Robertson Family Trust) concerned various applications made by Hoglie Trustees Limited (Trustee) in respect of the Larry Robertson Family Trust (Trust). However, the judgment does not discuss the orders sought in detail due to the decision the judge made at the outset regarding the validity of the Trust.

High Court trust decision gives primacy to the wishes of the settlors

September 25, 2024

New Zealand: The decision in Queenin v Queenin concerned the Queenin Family Trust (Trust), settled by Bertram Queenin and his wife Diana Queenin in October 2007. The High Court has released a decision regarding the family trust that is noteworthy not so much for the ultimate outcome, but for its comments on the nature of trusts in New Zealand and the status of settlors’ wishes.

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