Tax & Structuring
Cross-border estate planning
Understand how wills, ownership, tax, beneficiaries and succession can interact when assets and family span more than one jurisdiction.
A cross-border estate is a legal, tax and ownership problem at the same time.
This page is the tax and legal orientation: which country might tax or administer an estate, whether a will is recognised, and how probate, tax and documents can differ by place.
Ownership, family planning and how the papers fit together as a wealth question are on estate planning in the Wealth section. Read them as a pair. Neither page is advice, and neither recommends a structure.
Orientation
Tax is only one part of a cross-border estate
A will, the name on a title, a beneficiary form and a tax connecting factor can each point at a different country. The useful map is the asset, the legal owner, and the mechanism that passes it. Tax follows that map. It does not replace it.
A home
Owner. The names on the title
Passes by. A will, local succession law, or joint ownership
A bank or investment account
Owner. The account holder, or a company or trust
Passes by. A will, or the entity’s own rules
A pension
Owner. The member, within the scheme’s rules
Passes by. A beneficiary nomination, which may sit outside the will
A company
Owner. The shareholders
Passes by. The articles, a shareholders’ agreement, and a will of the shares
Assets in a trust
Owner. Often the trustee, legally
Passes by. The trust deed, if the local law recognises it
Connecting factors
Residence, domicile and citizenship can each be relevant
Some systems ask where you are resident. Some use domicile or another long-term personal connection. Some look at citizenship. Some tax the asset where it sits, whoever owns it. More than one of these can apply to the same estate. This page does not say which factor a named country uses. That is a question for a lawyer or tax adviser qualified there.
A move of home does not, by itself, rewrite a will or end a longer-term connecting factor.
Wills
One will is not always enough, and two wills need to fit
A will made for one legal system may not deal with property in another, or may not be in the form that a local court expects. Some families use more than one will, each limited to assets in a place. That only works when the documents do not revoke each other by accident. Forced-heirship rules, where they exist, can restrict how freely a will disposes of an estate. Ask locally. Do not assume a familiar freedom of disposition.
Title
How an asset is owned decides whether a will sees it
Joint ownership, a company, a trust or a nomination can take an asset outside the will, or change what the will can do. Legal title and beneficial ownership are separate questions, especially where a nominee or a trust is involved. The wealth page discusses ownership in more detail. Here, the point is that the tax analysis follows the legal analysis.
People
The person named in a will and the person named on a form can differ
Heirs, beneficiaries under a trust, and nominees on a pension or insurance policy are different roles. They can be the same person. They are not the same instruction. International heirs add a further question: whether they can receive, hold and report the asset where they live.
Property
Foreign property often needs a local procedure
A house abroad can require its own grant of authority, its own tax filing and its own reading of who inherits. Rental income during an administration and a later sale are separate from the inheritance question. Property covers buying and owning. This page asks what happens when the owner dies.
Pensions and insurance
Schemes and policies often pay by their own instructions
A pension nomination or a life-insurance beneficiary form may operate outside the will. Tax treatment of a lump sum paid after death can differ from tax on the estate itself, and can differ again in the country where the recipient lives. Check the form, and check both countries, before assuming the will controls the payment.
Trusts
A trust is not a substitute for asking whether the trust is recognised
Where a trust holds assets, the estate plan depends on the deed, on who can control the trust, and on whether each relevant country recognises the arrangement. Some systems recharacterise trusts. The roles and the reporting questions are on trusts. This page does not suggest using one.
Companies
Shares are estate assets, and they are also a control question
What passes on death may be shares, not the underlying building or business. Who can act as director the next morning is a different question, covered under succession. Estate tax, if any, is asked of the shares and of the countries connected to the holder.
Administration
Probate is a sequence, and it can run in more than one place
The words differ — probate, a grant, a certificate of inheritance — but the practical sequence is similar. Authority has to be obtained before many banks and land registries will move an asset. A grant in one country is not always enough in another.
01
Death is recorded
02
Someone is authorised to act
03
Assets are identified
04
Local taxes and debts are addressed
05
What remains is transferred
Incapacity
Authority during life is part of the same plan
Powers of attorney, or the local equivalent, decide who can instruct a bank or sell a property if you cannot. A document made at home may not be accepted where the asset is. Ask that question while you can still sign what is required.
Tax
Inheritance and estate taxes are local, and they are not the only tax
Some countries tax the estate, some tax the recipient, some tax both in different ways, and some rely more heavily on where the asset is. Residence, domicile, citizenship and asset location are the concepts to ask about. This page does not describe a rate or an exemption. Income and gains during the administration can be a further filing, separate from any inheritance tax.
Records
The file is the wills, the titles and the nominations
Keep wills, title documents, shareholder records, trust deeds, pension nominations, insurance forms and a note of which law each document expects. Cross-border positions are easier to administer when that set is current and the documents do not contradict one another.
Due diligence
Questions worth asking a lawyer or tax adviser
01Which countries could tax or administer this estate?
Ask about where you live, any longer-term personal connection such as domicile where that concept exists, where the assets sit, and the nationality or residence of the people who inherit.
02Does this country use domicile or a similar idea?
Ask whether inheritance or estate tax follows residence, domicile, citizenship, or the location of the asset. The label is local.
03Will one will be recognised everywhere?
Ask each country that holds an asset whether it will accept the will you have, or whether a local will is safer.
04Are there forced-heirship rules?
Some systems reserve a share for certain relatives. Ask whether that idea exists where the asset or the family sits. This page does not describe a country’s share.
05What passes outside the will?
Ask about pensions, insurance, joint property and anything held by a company or a trust.
06Who is the executor, and can they act abroad?
Ask whether the person named can obtain authority in each country, and whether a local representative is required.
07What happens if I cannot decide for myself?
Ask whether a power of attorney or equivalent will be recognised where the accounts and the property are.
08How are foreign properties treated?
Ask the country of the property and the country of the owner. Both may have a procedure and a tax question.
09Do pensions and life insurance follow the will?
Ask the scheme and the insurer. Nominations are often separate documents.
10How would a trust be recognised?
Ask each country that might see the trust. Recognition is not universal. The trusts page sets out the roles.
11What if a company owns the asset?
Ask whether the estate contains shares, and who can direct the company after death. That is also a succession question.
12What should be reviewed when I move?
Ask which documents are tied to the country you are leaving, and which need a counterpart where you arrive.
Watch for
Plans that look complete in one country
- Assuming one will covers every asset
- Ignoring a beneficiary form that overrides the will
- Treating a move as if it rewrote domicile or an equivalent connection
- Leaving a company with no one who can act
- Assuming a trust is recognised where the heirs live
- Reviewing documents only after a death
Common situations
When an estate touches more than one system
A home in one country and accounts in another
Two procedures, and possibly two tax questions.
Heirs who live somewhere else
Recognition of the will, and reporting where the heir is resident.
A will at home and property abroad
Whether the foreign land registry will act on that will.
A pension with an old nomination
A form that may not match the current will.
Tools
Related tools
These tools help with records and comparisons. They do not calculate tax.
Explore tax & structuring
Go deeper into a related topic
- TrustsRoles, recognition and reporting when a trust is part of an estate.
- SuccessionWho can act, and who controls a business, as well as who inherits.
- Tax residencyThe personal status that can affect how an estate is taxed.
Assets and family in more than one country?
Map the owner, the document and the country before assuming one will settles the estate.