'Jersey's Relationship with India: Political, Commercial and Cultural Connections'
Jersey First for Finance has recently published a guide entitled ‘Jersey’s relationship with India: Political, Commercial and Cultural Connections’. In it, Appleby Jersey Private Client & Trusts Group Head, David Dorgan, discusses the role his team plays in providing trust, company and foundation services to private individuals, families and fiduciary businesses in India. Access the full First for Finance publication here.
Professionalism and Pragmatism
Appleby’s Private Client & Trusts team provide trust, company and foundation services to private individuals, families and fiduciary businesses. Appleby advises on all aspects of trust, foundation and company law, including the establishment, administration, restructuring and termination of private, charitable, and commercial structures.
Appleby advised an Indian family who became UK resident. The family built a substantial business in the UK and established several Jersey law trusts to hold and manage their wealth.
A dispute arose between two brothers resulting in the family being engulfed in litigation for several years. Consequently, they were keen to avoid future expensive and public disputes.
Appleby has extensive expertise in assisting families to find a pragmatic way forward and, to govern their future affairs, Appleby advised upon and prepared a family constitution.
Whilst the constitution contained extensive mechanisms to deal with any family dispute in private, it also contained by way of example the following bespoke provisions:
- An advisory council which allowed family members to set:
(i) investment policies and strategies for their wealth under
professional management; and (ii) distribution of wealth
policies including making provisions for education,
healthcare, housing and weddings - Provisions governing future spouses not being entitled to
family wealth on divorce or death - Confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions in relation
to the family affairs - Penalties applicable to family members who do not abide by the terms of the family constitution.
SUPPORTING GROWTH
Appleby advised an Indian resident family who own a business involved in a variety of products and services operating in India as well as several other countries. The group was looking to expand its businesses into certain parts of the world and some of the family members were looking to relocate from India to overseas (including the USA and the UK) to assist with that expansion. Appleby was approached by the family to prepare a Jersey trust structure to hold and own newly formed group companies which would look to operate in the expansion of the business and which would provide the family with asset protection and tax efficiencies.
