Family foundations

Family foundations are one of the most important tools for succession planning and wealth management, providing stability and long-term protection of family values. Our goal is to help families preserve and grow their legacy while providing optimal legal and financial solutions. We help create family foundations that will not only meet the objectives of the funders, but also survive for many generations, building lasting value for families.

When planning the establishment of a family foundation together with our clients, we always focus our attention on the individual needs of each family, ensuring that the structure of the foundation is aligned with its objectives, values and financial situation. We offer comprehensive legal and tax support at every stage of the establishment of a family foundation, from the planning stage through to the establishment stage and onwards during its ongoing operation.

Among the most important benefits of establishing a family foundation are:

• the opportunity to create a lasting legacy that can be passed on from one generation to the next, thus nurturing family culture, values and goals and safeguarding the family’s assets for future generations;
• protecting assets from dissipation;
• minimising the risk of disputes relating to possible succession proceedings;
• the possibility of reorganising assets held – not just shares in companies;
• the possibility of flexible distribution of the income from family assets according to a mechanism established by the funder;
• the possibility of distributing capital on favourable tax terms;
• the possibility of greater privacy compared to traditional forms of ownership,
• the possibility of creating an alternative to the holding company,
• freedom of shaping corporate governance rules,
• ensuring greater anonymity and confidentiality of corporate data in comparison with a commercial company.

We advise on the establishment of a family foundation and offer ongoing legal and tax support in the course of the foundation’s operation, including:

• we analyse the viability of setting up a family foundation or alternatives taking into account business and family plans;
• we analyse the asset and family situation of the client;
• we develop the optimal structure for transferring assets to the family foundation and managing them through the generations, in line with the objectives of the funder;
• we advise on possible changes to the structure of the company or group of companies, including restructuring and mergers, in order to prepare for succession;
• we prepare the necessary documentation, in particular the statutes of the foundation, the management regulations, the investment policy, etc., to ensure the proper functioning and purposefulness of the foundation in accordance with the will of the founder and the law;
• we conduct a comprehensive procedure for the establishment of a family foundation, providing comprehensive legal and tax support during the implementation phase of the chosen concept;
• we provide ongoing support in the running of the foundation.

If you are considering setting up a family foundation or need professional advice in this area, we warmly invite you to contact us. We are ready to assist you at every stage of the process and provide comprehensive legal and tax advice.

Experience:

In our practice we have been and are dealing with succession in family businesses. We have advised on succession matters to, among others, companies in the construction, production, agri-food and service industries We have drawn up legal opinions and analyses concerning the process and effects of succession in companies, combining this comprehensively with advice on our clients’ personal assets. We have also carried out a number of implementations of succession procedures using the creation of holding structures, divisions and mergers of companies, depending on the needs of our clients.

We have already supported many clients in the establishment and registration of family foundations. Our support includes not only the establishment of the family foundation, but also full legal support in the preparatory stage of the establishment of the family foundation, the assessment of the legal and tax implications of the establishment of the family foundation – for the founders as well as for the beneficiaries, or families.

Our dedicated legal services also include the day-to-day legal and tax services of the family foundation after its establishment