Description.
The GSC team specialises in property advice in the restaurants, fast food and coffee shop sectors assisting in the acquisition (including financing), construction and development of premises. We act for a number of major fast food and coffee shop franchise owners, particularly companies operating large numbers (often 30 to 50), in all their property work, including financing.
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Our real estate department acts for a wide range of clients in relation to their property development work, including household names.
Many developments involve complex structuring, financing and negotiation and require the attainment and/or release of various rights in order to enable the development to process. The advice we are able to provide is comprehensive, including negotiating agreements for lease and leases, dealing with forward funding arrangements, drafting and negotiating building contracts and collateral warranties and dealing with other wraparound issues including rights of light and access and development rights generally. When appropriate we work closely with our Construction Law department to ensure that our clients receive a seamless and complete service.
We have expertise in developments of a wide range of types of property including office accommodation (particularly headquarters buildings), retail units, storage units, hotels, restaurants, public houses and nursing homes.
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Our commercial property practice is substantial and we provide a comprehensive service to those acquiring or selling all types of commercial property, including offices, retail and leisure.
Our real estate lawyers have extensive expertise in commercial property transactions and will provide commercial legal advice hand-in-hand with technical advice on how to appropriately protect against exposure in the future.
Our team can also provide advice on the most appropriate vehicle for an acquisition and we often work closely with our Corporate & Commercial department in relation to acquisitions and sales of commercial property involving corporate structures, whether they are companies, partnerships, joint ventures or otherwise.
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A will allows you to provide for your loved ones whilst giving you control over what happens to your money, possessions and property after you die. Some people assume that their assets are too insignificant to need a will, but if you die without having made a will, the intestacy rules will apply in an arbitrary manner. The only way to be certain that your assets pass to the relatives, friends or charities that you intend is by making a will.
Under the present intestacy rules your estate will pass automatically to your surviving family (i.e. spouse, children, parents and siblings) in a prescribed order. Co-habitees who are unmarried and not in a Civil Partnership are not currently recognised by the intestacy rules. Therefore, co-habitees will be left to make a claim on the estate claiming financial dependence if appropriate. If you have children with your co-habiting partner or from previous relationships, then those children will automatically inherit the estate. This means that if you have a partner, both your children and your partner will have to get separate legal representation in order to fight for a share in the estate. This can be a sensitive and costly situation and can be avoided by putting in place a simple will.
We understand that the drafting of a Will is a sensitive and difficult process and are there to guide clients throughout in order to offer them peace of mind. We advise on tax-effective post-death arrangements as well as suggest lifetime planning such as asset protection structures where appropriate. For further information on our services on lifetime planning please see “Inheritance Tax planning” and “Trust planning”.
Our clients include both UK resident and non-UK resident or domiciled high net worth individuals, families and entrepreneurs with assets located in the UK and often worldwide.
We have particular expertise in the drafting of International Wills to cover multi-jurisdictional assets and non-domiciled individuals. We also work with international clients to make use of double taxation treaties where appropriate.
Our approach is to deliver legal advice of the highest quality that is individually tailored, providing practical solutions to the legal and financial issues surrounding the creation, investment, protection and transfer of private wealth and assets.
GSC private client lawyers have extensive experience in the creation, administration and termination of trusts both in the UK and offshore. We are also able to advise on a variety of other structures such as foundations, private trust companies and purpose trusts which may be more suitable to your needs. We are adept in identifying whether a structure could enable you to meet your goals, and advising on the form such structure should take.
Whilst trust structures historically presented tax advantages, legislation over the past few years has sought to erode such advantages. Trusts are still useful tools for asset protection and wealth preservation. However, we ensure that trust structures are set up effectively to ensure that they are fully tax efficient, taking into account issues of withholding tax and international tax regimes.
We at GSC adopt a holistic approach to trust planning, and take the time to fully analyse your financial, business and family circumstances to come up with a solution tailored to your objectives and needs. We do not simply provide academic legal advice, but rather take an active role in relation to both the setting up and the ongoing running of the structure. We have strong relationships with onshore and offshore advisors and accountants and are used to ‘project-managing’ various advisers to achieve a streamlined process for the client. We adopt the role of the client’s “trusted advisor” and often co-ordinate all aspects of a family or individual’s legal affairs.
We regularly advise founders or “settlors” and their families on wealth management and trust planning structures. We are also experienced in advising both professional trustees, trustees and protectors on their fiduciary duties and general trust management.
Defending civil or criminal tax investigations requires highly specialised help from lawyers with experience in handling high level tax fraud investigations.
At GSC, we help companies and individuals who are facing tax litigation, including white collar crime/fraud charges and regulatory offences.
Because this type of work is often international in nature, GSC is well placed to:
We offer strategic personal tax advice to protect our clients’ interests in an increasingly complex regulatory environment and a global drive for tax transparency.
GSC’s tax team is internationally focused. Our clients are highly mobile, business leaders and entrepreneurs based in regions such as Africa, the Middle East, the former Soviet Republics and South East Asia. Meeting their needs requires more than legal expertise; it takes cultural awareness, a global mind set and broad linguistic capabilities. This is why GSC tax lawyers come so highly recommended. They have built up a high degree of expertise in understanding high-net-worth individuals in all tax aspects of corporate, commercial and financial transactions, with a particular understanding of those transactions’ impact on personal tax.
A charitable trust can be an effective way to support your chosen cause in a tax-efficient way whilst leaving a lasting legacy as a charitable trust can run indefinitely.
However, the complex legal and regulatory framework governing charities as well as shortages of government funding for charities pose challenges to the setting up of new charities.
Our Private Client team is experienced in setting up charitable trusts from guiding you though the start-up process to helping you decide on the most suitable legal structure, implementing such structure and registering the charity with HMRC and the Charity Commission.
The first step is to decide on the purpose of your charity and what it is going to be set up to achieve. The Charities Act dictates that in order to be a charity in England and Wales its purposes must be “charitable”. To qualify as “charitable” you must choose a purpose which falls under one or more of the “descriptions of purposes” listed in the Charities Act and the charity must benefit the public in general or a sufficient section of the public.
Once you have decided on the charity’s purpose, the next step is to decide on its organisational structure. There are a variety of structures that can be used for a charity. The choice of structure will depend on the way in which the charity will be run, the size of the charity and whether the charity will be owning property and/or employing people.
There are four main types of charity structure:
It is important that you choose a structure that is appropriate for your charity that fits with how it will operate. Our Private Client team can guide you on choosing the legal structure which most effectively meets your charities’ objectives and planned operations.
Depending on the choice of structure, your charity will need an appropriate governing document setting out its name, objects, powers, how it will be run, how meetings will be held etc. Our lawyers are highly experienced and able in producing such documents tailored to the specific charity and its objects.
Once you have put in place a governing document for your charity, you will need to ensure that the necessary registrations are completed. We can guide you through the registration processes, to ensure that your charity is successfully registered with both the Charity Commission and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
Our Private Client team is experienced in handling complex, high-value probates and international trusts and estates disputes. We act for executors, beneficiaries and trustees, adopting a sensitive approach to ensure that family relationships are maintained.
We handle all aspects of the probate process, including review of the Will if there is one, applying for a grant of representation, paying inheritance tax, collecting in the estate’s assets and distributing the estate in accordance with the Will or intestacy rules. We have a particular expertise in handling probates with multi-jurisdictional assets including advising on double taxation issues.
We are also experienced in advising on contested probates, to include advising disgruntled beneficiaries on claims to estates or claims against unfit executors and trustees. We aim to resolve matters outside of the court process where possible, using mediation and negotiation to come to an agreement. However, where court proceedings cannot be avoided, we work in parallel with our highly-regarded Litigation team to handle complex disputes and achieve a resolution to what is often an emotional and difficult time for the family.
For information on our charges, please refer to: Probate Services Fees
A Lasting Power of Attorney is a document put in place to allow the ‘donor’ to appoint ‘attorney’ to act on their behalf in the event that they lose the ability to make their own decisions e.g. due to an illness or accident. At the time the power is given, the donor must be capable of understanding its nature and effect for it to be valid.
There are two types of Lasting Powers of Attorney which can be put in place:
Lasting Powers of Attorney must be registered with the Office of the Public Guardian before they can be used. Registration can be by you or your attorney for a fee set by the Office of the Public Guardian.
Lasting Powers of Attorney enable you to make provision in advance for the possibility of your becoming incapable of managing your own financial and welfare affairs during your lifetime. This becomes increasingly important as the risk of supervening mental incapacity grows due to longer life expectancies.
An ordinary power of attorney is not sufficient in such circumstances as it is automatically revoked by mental incapacity.
It is also possible to apply to the Court of Protection for permissions to act on behalf of someone’s affairs in the event of incapacity or illness, but the procedure can be costly and time consuming. More importantly, reliance on the Court of Protection route means that you will have lost the right to choose who will have the responsibility for looking after your affairs.
