Inheritance planning is the conversation families schedule for next year. It is also the conversation that, when finally held, almost always reveals it should have happened five years earlier. The Momento for clarity is rarely the one chosen.

We work with families across multiple generations, in jurisdictions where forced heirship sits uneasily next to expectations of testamentary freedom. The mismatch between law and intention is the root of most contested estates we are asked to resolve.

THE WORDS NOBODY USES

Clients describe their estate in commercial terms — companies, properties, holdings. But the contested estates we see are rarely about assets. They are about relationships that were never named: a second family, a long-time partner, a child whose contribution was understood but never recorded.

The document that survives the planner is silent on these relationships unless they are stated plainly. Plain statement requires conversation, and conversation requires a Momento that families instinctively postpone.

CROSS-BORDER REALITIES

A villa held in one country, a holding company in another, beneficiaries scattered across three. The relevant question is rarely 'what does the will say' but 'which law decides whether the will applies at all'.

We routinely audit estate plans drafted in a single jurisdiction against the laws of every place the family actually touches. The findings are usually quiet but consequential. Small adjustments made early prevent litigation that would consume the estate it was meant to protect.

TRUSTS, FOUNDATIONS, AND THE LIMITS OF EACH

Structures travel poorly. A trust recognised in one jurisdiction may be ignored, recharacterised, or taxed punitively in another. Foundations face the same translation problem.

We advise clients to start from the destination and work backwards: where will the beneficiaries actually be when distributions occur? What courts will have practical jurisdiction over disputes? Only then does the choice of vehicle make sense.

THE LIVING DOCUMENT

An estate plan executed today and never revisited is a plan for a family that no longer exists. Children are born, marriages end, jurisdictions change their rules. The plan must change with them.

We build cadence into the engagement — periodic reviews tied to events, not calendars. A grandchild's birth, a new property purchase, a meaningful change in revenue. Each is a natural Momento to test the plan against current reality.

STARTING THE CONVERSATION

Our most valuable work often happens before any document is drafted. We sit with families and help them say aloud what each member assumes the others already know. The drafting that follows is, almost without exception, easier and quieter than the families expected. The hardest part was beginning.