01
Family constitution first
Before the trust deed is drafted, the family must agree on governance. The constitution captures voting, distributions, dispute resolution and the conditions for amending it.
Matter active · 2025
Home/ Representative matters/ Brief 04/07
Living-trust architecture for a multigenerational family.
A founder-stage family principal sought to convert a contested succession path into a governed one. The firm designed the family constitution, settled the living trust, drafted the founder-transition protocol, and coordinated cross-border custody for the trust assets the family already held abroad.
- File ref
- BR-04 / 07
- Sector
- Private wealth · Legacy
- Year
- 2025
- Forum
- Trust · family council · custodians
- Outcome
- Governance established
01 The mandate
What the firm was instructed to do.
The three sides of every brief: the client, the ask, and the constraint that defined the route.
Client
Founder principal
Patriarch of a multigenerational family business spanning two operating sectors and three generations of beneficial interests.
Ask
Convert succession risk into governance
Build a structure that survives the founder — and is testable against the disagreements the family already knew it had.
Constraint
Cross-border assets and beneficiaries
Beneficiaries in two jurisdictions; portfolio assets in a third. Any structure had to work simultaneously with three regulatory regimes and one tax authority.
02 The forum
Where the matter was fought.
Court, regulator and counterparty — the three surfaces the strategy had to clear.
- Trust
- Trustee · family council · investment committee
- Custody
- International custodian · two reporting jurisdictions
- Tax
- Domestic revenue · transfer-pricing posture
03 The strategy
Four moves that defined the file.
Not a chronology — the deliberate sequencing of instruments that produced the outcome.
02
Settle the living trust
A revocable living trust settled by the founder; transferred operating and portfolio assets; appointed an independent trustee with a family-council protocol.
03
Founder-transition protocol
A staged transition plan with named successors, decision rights and trigger events — written so the family knows what happens before it happens.
04
Cross-border custody
Custodian agreements with two reporting authorities aligned; tax posture confirmed in writing with revenue counsel.
04 The workstream
How the time was spent.
Four phases with the deliverable each produced. Phases overlap by design.
Phase 01 · Month 1 – 2
Discovery
Family interviews, asset register, conflict-of-interest mapping, beneficiary identification.
Asset register · interview memoPhase 02 · Month 2 – 5
Constitution
Family constitution drafted, mediated through council, ratified by the principal beneficiaries.
Constitution · council protocolPhase 03 · Month 3 – 7
Trust
Living trust settled; assets transferred; trustee appointed; investment committee constituted.
Trust deed · transfer instrumentsPhase 04 · Month 6 – 9
Cross-border
International custodian onboarded; tax posture confirmed; annual reaffirmation calendar set.
Custody agreement · tax opinions05 Instruments deployed
The legal tools used on this file.
A working register of the principal instruments — for context, not procedure.
No. 01Family constitutionGovernance
No. 02Living trust deedVehicle
No. 03Trustee letter & investment policyStewardship
No. 04Cross-border custody agreementCustody
No. 05Founder governance protocolTransition
No. 06Tax opinion · transfer-pricing postureTax
06 Outcome metrics
What success looked like in numbers.
The four figures the firm tracked at close — anonymised, but real.
9mo
From engagement to ratified family constitution and settled trust.
3
Generations of beneficial interests inside one governance framework.
2
Jurisdictions reconciled in the custodian agreements.
1
Living trust — designed to outlast the founder.
07 Bench on the matter
Who carried the file.
Lawyers identified by role — engagement letters carry the names.
Private wealth & legacy
Lead Partner
Carried the family-constitution mediation; chaired the trust-deed drafting.
Trust structuring
Senior Associate
Drove the cross-border custody track and assembled the tax-posture file.
“Succession is preserved by structure, not by hope. The constitution is the soul of the trust.”
— Lead partner, Private wealth & legacy
08 Lessons we now bake in
What this file changed in how the firm works.
Every closed brief produces an entry in the firm’s working manual. These three came from this matter.
Lesson · 01
Constitution before trust
A trust without a family constitution litigates itself within a generation. The firm now insists on a ratified constitution before the deed is even drafted.
Lesson · 02
Founder must sign the protocol, not just review
A transition protocol that the founder has not signed is a draft. The firm builds the signing event into the engagement plan.
Lesson · 03
Cross-border custody needs annual reaffirmation
Custodian agreements drift. A reaffirmation calendar — set at engagement — keeps the structure live across the years it is supposed to last.
09 Practice areas engaged
The cells of the firm this file drew on.
Most briefs touch three or more practice areas. Here are the three that carried this one.
Confidentiality notice All identifying details have been removed in accordance with the firm’s confidentiality obligations and the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners. Sectors, periods, instrument lists and outcomes are illustrative of the matter type — not a representation of specific parties, courts or amounts. Specific matters are discussed only under engagement.