Essential guide to setting up a family office in Guernsey
What do you need to know about Guernsey as a home for your family office?
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Family Office
Ogier has a wealth of experience in working with different types of family office, local and international families and providers of family office services in order to meet the diverse needs of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families and to understand the challenges facing them. In particular, Ogier has identified the increasing need for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and their families to establish family offices with substance in our jurisdictions.
We can provide practical assistance in relation to the governance of family offices, in particular the role of family members, external consultants and investment advisors in the family office structure, succession issues and generational planning and the creation of soft or hard frameworks to support interaction and communication between the family office, family members and their key advisors.
We can also assist with the legal and regulatory issues involved in establishing new family offices and for existing family offices including financial services regulation, necessary licensing and staffing permissions, anti-money laundering reporting and obligations, and data protection, together with the relocation of family members, family offices and staff to  our jurisdictions and related business set-up, property, immigration and employment matters.
We can provide training to family office administrators to assist with CPD requirements.
Our corporate administration business Ogier Global has a specialist Private Wealth Services team which establishes and governs structures.
What is a family office?
While by no means the sole definition, a useful one is provided by the Family Office Council, a membership group for single family offices, which defines a single family office as a private organisation that manages the investments for a single wealthy family. The assets are the family’s own wealth, often accumulated over many family generations.
In addition to investment management some family offices provide personal services such as managing household staff and making travel arrangements. Other services typically handled by the traditional family office include property management, day-to-day accounting and payroll activities, and management of legal and tax affairs. Family offices often provide family management services, which includes family governance, financial and investment education, philanthropy coordination, and succession planning.
In our experience, every single family office is different and reflects the needs and interests of the family that it serves. In each case the matters for which a family office will be responsible and the mechanism for governance of a family office should be considered carefully at the outset.
Learn more about establishing a family office in Guernsey and Jersey in our guides below to help you decide the perfect home for your structure.
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Legal services
Employment
- Staffing permissions
- Employment contracts
- Policies and procedures
- Registration with appropriate authorities
- Secondment and consultancy arrangements
- Immigration including work permits and visas
- Income tax, social security registration cards, insurances
Establishment and structuring
- Trusts
- Foundations
- Companies
- Limited partnerships
- Family unit trusts
- Alternative structures, including cell companies
- Private trust companies
- Holding structures for luxury assets
Governance
- Family charters
- Multi-generational families
- Composition of boards by family members and professional advisors
Regulatory
- Authorisation, licensing and registration of family office entities and advice on available exemptions from regulatory licensing requirements
- Authorisation, licensing and registration of individuals where applicable
- Financial services regulation (investment services, funds, trusts and corporate administration)
- Business licences and staffing permissions including high value residency and licensed status applications
- Anti-bribery and corruption/avoiding facilitation of tax evasion
- Anti-money laundering (AML)
- Data protection/GDPR
- Policies and procedures
- Family investment exemptions
Relocations and property
- Relocations to our jurisdictions –family offices/high-net-worth individuals/employees
- Business licences including high value residency and licensed status applications
- Commercial investment acquisitions and sales
- Commercial leases
- Residential property
- Settling into the new jurisdiction
- Introductions to other advisors and contacts
Estate planning, wills and probate
- Estate planning advice
- Probate
- Wills and codicils
Corporate administration and fiduciary services
Ogier Global family office services
- Incorporation and establishment of family office structure in line with legal/regulatory adviceÂ
- MLRO/CO Appointments
- Data Protection Officer
- Staff Handbook drafting
- Annual Employee Declarations
- Premises
- Payroll services
- Full governance services to the family office
Key contacts
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James Campbell
Partner | Legal
Jersey
James Campbell
Partner
Jersey
-
Tervinder Chal
Managing Director, Singapore, Ogier Global | Corporate and Fiduciary
Singapore
Tervinder Chal
Managing Director, Singapore, Ogier Global
Singapore
-
Matt Guthrie
Partner | Legal
Guernsey
Matt Guthrie
Partner
Guernsey
-
Emily Haithwaite
Group Partner, Ogier Legal L.P. | Legal
Jersey
Emily Haithwaite
Group Partner, Ogier Legal L.P.
Jersey
-
Josephine Howe
Partner | Legal
Jersey
Josephine Howe
Partner
Jersey
-
Jonathan Hughes
Partner | Legal
Jersey
Jonathan Hughes
Partner
Jersey
-
Niamh Lalor
Partner | Legal
Jersey
Niamh Lalor
Partner
Jersey
-
Jacqueline Loh 乐家琪
Global Head of Private Wealth 全球私人客戶服務主管 | Corporate and Fiduciary
Hong Kong
Jacqueline Loh 乐家琪
Global Head of Private Wealth 全球私人客戶服務主管
Hong Kong
-
Anthony Partridge
Partner | Legal
Cayman Islands
Anthony Partridge
Partner
Cayman Islands
-
Rachael Reynolds KC
Global Senior Partner | Legal
Cayman Islands
Rachael Reynolds KC
Global Senior Partner
Cayman Islands
-
Helen Ruelle
Director of Local Legal Services | Legal
Jersey
Helen Ruelle
Director of Local Legal Services
Jersey
-
Matthew Shaxson
Group Partner, Ogier Legal L.P. | Legal
Jersey
Matthew Shaxson
Group Partner, Ogier Legal L.P.
Jersey
-
Nick Williams
Partner | Legal
Jersey
Nick Williams
Partner
Jersey
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Family Office
"The team go the extra mile, considering all options and assisting with even the smallest of queries"
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