Question 1

What is wealth structuring?

Accepted Answer

Wealth structuring is arranging a family's assets, entities, residence and succession into one coherent whole, rather than as a collection of separate decisions made by separate advisers at different times. It asks how the holdings are owned, where the family and its entities are resident, how income and gains are taxed across the relevant countries, how the wealth passes to the next generation, and how it is protected and governed, and it answers them together, so the parts reinforce rather than contradict each other. The goal is a structure that is efficient, defensible against challenge, and durable across a generational handover. It is the picture the individual pieces fit into.

Question 2

Why structure wealth as a whole rather than piece by piece?

Accepted Answer

Because the pieces interact, and optimising one in isolation often damages another. A holding company chosen for tax can complicate succession; a residence chosen for lifestyle can change the tax on everything; an estate plan made without regard to the entities can force a sale. Families who assemble their affairs from separate advisers (a tax adviser here, a lawyer there, a banker elsewhere) frequently end up with a set of individually sensible decisions that conflict as a whole. Structuring looks at the entire picture first and then designs the parts to fit it. The coherence is the value, and it is exactly what piecemeal advice cannot give.

Question 3

What does a coherent structure include?

Accepted Answer

Typically: the ownership of the operating and investment assets, often through one or more holding companies; the residence and tax position of the family members and the entities; a succession plan that handles forced heirship, choice of law and the business transition; protective and continuity vehicles such as a foundation or trust where they fit; the banking; and the governance that holds it all together, increasingly through a family office. The exact components depend on the family. What makes it a structure rather than a list is that each part is chosen in light of the others: the holding designed with the succession in mind, the residence with the tax, and so on.

Question 4

How does residence fit into structuring?

Accepted Answer

Residence is often the most powerful lever, because it can change the tax treatment of the entire structure at once. Where the family (and its key members) are tax-resident determines how their worldwide income, gains and wealth are taxed, and a relocation, including onto Switzerland's expenditure-based regime, can reshape the whole picture. But residence also drives succession law, the matrimonial-property position and the inheritance tax, so it cannot be chosen for tax alone. Structuring weighs residence across all these dimensions together. We model the effect of a residence decision on the entire structure, not just on one tax line.

Question 5

How does structuring protect against challenge?

Accepted Answer

A defensible structure is one built on genuine substance and real reasons, documented, so it withstands scrutiny from tax authorities, treaty partners and, in time, heirs and creditors. That means holdings with actual substance rather than letterbox entities, residence that is real, transactions at arm's length, and a clear record of why the structure exists. The opposite, an artificial structure assembled purely to reduce tax, without substance or commercial logic, is increasingly vulnerable to anti-abuse rules, substance challenges and transparency reporting, and tends to fail when tested. We build for defensibility, because a structure that collapses under challenge was never efficient in the first place.

Question 6

What does 'built to survive a handover' mean?

Accepted Answer

It means the structure is designed so that it continues to work when control passes to the next generation, rather than depending on one person who understands and runs everything. That requires a succession plan that actually moves ownership and control as intended, governance that lets the next generation make decisions coherently, and vehicles (a foundation, a trust, a family office) that provide continuity across the transition. Many structures are efficient while the founder is in charge and fall apart when they are not. Designing for the handover from the start, not bolting it on later, is what makes wealth genuinely durable. We structure with the transition in view.

Question 7

Does a good structure mean paying no tax?

Accepted Answer

No, and a structure promising that should be treated with suspicion. The aim is a tax position that is efficient and, crucially, sustainable: one that uses legitimate reliefs, residence and ownership choices, and treaty positions, and that holds up when examined. A structure engineered to pay near-zero tax through artificiality typically relies on the kind of arrangement that anti-abuse rules and transparency reporting now defeat, and it carries real risk of reassessment, penalties and dispute. Efficient and defensible beats aggressive and fragile every time. We optimise within what is genuine and durable, and are candid that this is the right target, not the lowest possible headline rate.

Question 8

When is the right time to structure?

Accepted Answer

Before the events that are hard to unwind (a relocation, a business sale, a succession, a major liquidity event) because structuring is far more powerful done in advance than retrofitted afterwards. Once assets have been sold, residence established, or wealth passed, many options close. The best structures are put in place when the family still has flexibility, which usually means earlier than people assume. That said, an existing structure that has grown incoherent can and should be reviewed and rationalised. We help both: design ahead of the events that matter, and untangle structures that separate decisions have left at odds.

Question 9

How often should a structure be reviewed?

Accepted Answer

Periodically, and whenever something material changes: a move, a sale, a birth or death, a new investment or business, or a change in the tax or succession rules in any country the structure touches. A structure is designed against a particular set of facts and laws, and both shift over time; left unreviewed, a once-coherent structure drifts back into incoherence as circumstances change around it. The 2023 succession reform is a good example of a rule change that warranted revisiting many existing plans. A light periodic review, with a deeper one at the big events, keeps the structure aligned with the family and the law. We build the review into the ongoing coordination rather than treating the design as finished.

Question 10

Can Goldblum design and run the whole structure?

Accepted Answer

Yes, this is the firm's core. We design the structure as a whole, then build and run its parts: the holding companies and their administration, the residence and tax position, the succession plan, the protective vehicles, the banking and the governance. Because the same firm holds the entire picture, the parts are designed to fit each other rather than assembled from separate advisers who never speak. We build for efficiency and defensibility, with the generational handover in view, and we coordinate the structure on an ongoing basis through corporate administration and, where it fits, a family office. The result is one coherent, durable structure rather than a pile of individually sensible decisions.

Component	Designed with regard to
Holding & ownership	Tax, succession and protection
Residence	Tax, succession law, property regime
Succession plan	Forced heirship, the business, the handover
Protection & governance	Continuity, foundation/trust, family office

Wealth
structuring

The whole picture, designed as one.

What wealth structuring is

Who this is for

Where it fits

What a structure includes

How we design it

Map the whole

Design the structure

Build the parts

Govern it

Maintain & adapt

What it costs

What a sound structure requires

Aggressive and fragile loses to efficient and defensible

The structure, in practice

One picture, not many advisers

Genuine, not artificial

Designed for the handover

Around the structure

Family office

Relocation & lump-sum tax

Succession & estate planning