Representing beneficiaries of an estate or trust in England and Wales

We support beneficiaries residing in Germany of an estate or trust in England and Wales towards the personal representative or trustee. In particular, our services include

• requesting a copy of the Will and/or trust document;
• requesting and reviewing the estate/trust inventory and accounting;
• requesting the documents required for tax assessment (inheritance tax, gift tax, income tax) in Germany;
• recommendations regarding the exercise of tax election rights to avoid double taxation;
• reviewing the personal representative`s / trustee's activities (e.g. costs of administering the trust);
• asserting and enforcing the claim to payment of the share of the estate / trust assets;
• advice on the tax-optimized allocation of assets when not all beneficiaries reside in Germany;
• initial review of the legality of withdrawals from the trust assets (e.g. for trust administration costs and trustee remuneration);
• assertion of claims for distribution against the personal representaive / trustee;
• assertion of claims for reimbursement, e.g. German inheritance tax;
• Advice on disclaiming or rejecting rights to trust assets in order to reduce German inheritance tax;
• Advice on payment methods, currency exchange and reporting requirements under the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (Außenwirtschaftsgesetz);
• advice regarding the Money Laundering Act (e.g. declarations to banks regarding the origin of the assets).

On the basis of the information obtained, we also give

• advice on German inheritance tax and gift tax with a cross-jurisdiction element with the UK and
• advice on taxation of an inheritance from a British estate or trust in Germany.