Families & Wealth
Chetcuti Cauchi's Families & Wealth team of lawyers and family office specialists have extensive experience helping some of the world's most accomplished and innovative international families in wealth structuring and asset protection, investment and co-investment structuring, tax planning, residence and citizenship planning, family office design, philanthropy, family law and all areas of law and taxation affecting families and their wealth.
Our Families & Wealth Practice
Our firm understands that businesses face a number of challenges, but have proved to be resilient in the face of a number of global financial crises. Often, managing internal matters and providing for continuation from one generation to another prove to be the real stumbling blocks for family businesses. At Chetcuti Cauchi we are fully geared towards offering a comprehensive service to our clients and we do so by understanding their succession, philanthropic and estate planning objectives and advise them on a comprehensive structure for their family wealth and business interests in a sustainable legal and tax optimised manner.
Malta Family Offices
Within Malta’s path to becoming the leading international family office hub, Malta has been lining up all key points that family office promoters, principals and beneficiaries look for in a destination for their global or regional family office. While transitioning from an offshore centre in the 1990s to a compliant, transparent and self-sustaining financial centre within the European Union, Malta’s legal and regulatory framework for family offices has been carefully crafted and evolved to tick all the boxes for family offices
Family Wealth Structuring
A trust can serve as a flexible and efficient solution for the protection and management of family assets. Chetcuti Cauchi's wholly-owned and licensed trust company authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority and stands as one of the foremost Maltese Trust Companies. Our Trust Law team of lawyers, accountants, financial advisors and trust administrators bring to the table a strategic mix of skills and experience necessary for the running of a high-calibre trust operation while maintaining the levels of personalised services our clients have become used to expect.
Maltese Trustees
As trustees, our priority is to ensure utmost care in the administration of the property put in trust for the ultimate benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries, typically, future generations. We also help set up family investment and co-investment platforms and help implement listing and exit strategies.
While carrying out the necessary due diligence procedures and maintaining legal compliance throughout the life of the trust, we respect the client’s wishes in settling the trust property. We have years of experience in drafting trust instruments that best reflect a client’s needs and endeavour to make all the implications of settling a property in trust transparent to our clients. This includes any tax or accounting requirements that may arise in which our qualified accountants and our tax advisors have long-standing experience with the tax aspects of Maltese trusts.
Read more about Maltese Trusts Law in our dedicated section
Malta Foundations Law
With the enactment of Act XIII of 2007 as the law which regulates foundations in Malta, supplemented by the Voluntary Organisations Act of 2007, Malta’s foundations law is an all-encompassing legislative framework which deals with various aspects relevant to foundations. At Chetcuti Cauchi we are fully geared towards helping clients in the setting up of Malta foundations set up by public deed or will and endowment.
Find out more about Maltese Foundations Law
Malta Estate Management
Our Estate Management Practice offers all-encompassing services to clients requiring fiduciary services, trust set-up and management and asset preservation vehicles. We have a wealth of expertise in offering excellent tax-planning, corporate and fiduciary services, specialising in implementing and administering corporate, trust and fiduciary structures and providing additional advice on private residence and relocation solutions to Malta.
Read more about Estate Management Services in Malta
Our Malta Voluntary Organisations & Charities Team
A number of HNW and successful families want to make a difference and help those who are not as fortunate. Thus, family philanthropists seek tax-efficient means to maximise the value of their charitable investments so that those in need can benefit as much as possible. Chetcuti Cauchi’s charitable and voluntary industry group provides assistance on the registration, compliance and accountancy processes of operating as a voluntary organization as well as legal, administrative and financial advice during the day to day running of the organization.
Get more information on Charities and Voluntary Organizations in Malta
Opportunities for International Families in Malta
At an international level, Malta provides a family-friendly environment for business governance and wealth management, complimented by a legal framework and a professional infrastructure for the management of trusts and companies. The Trusts and Trustees Act and Malta's law on foundations provide flexible tools for asset protection and the running of family businesses on an international scale. Moreover, Malta's favourable taxation system includes the absence of withholding taxes on dividends, royalties and interests, as well as tax exemptions for dividend income and capital gains arising on the transfer of participating holdings. A similar exemption also applies to stamp duty otherwise applicable on the acquisition of shares in Maltese companies.
Families & Wealth Practice Group
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