U.S. Estate Planners and Foreign Property: Part IU.S. Estate Planners and Foreign Property: Part I

The world is changing much faster than at the beginning of our professional careers. It’s vital that every U.S. estate planner understand what’s happening elsewhere in the world. Increasingly, our U.S. citizen clients are making investments in or have business ties to foreign countries, or they’re purchasing property located in another country. 

Over the past decade, the approach of the rest of the world toward disclosure of ultimate beneficial ownership (UBO) and privacy has deviated from that of the United States. The era of full disclosure of UBO of property is prevalent elsewhere (and especially in Western Europe). Clients in Europe don’t like making disclosures on these registries; however, their governments claim they need the infor...