Wealth Structuring & Estate Planning

We help you transmit your assets according to your last wishes. Conscious of the importance, even the sensitive nature, of this question, we adopt a personalised and confidential approach, made of listening, trust, and mutual respect.

Maître Simon Deceuninck, co-founding partner, treats each file in an individualised manner, with humanism and ethics. He adapts to foreign cultures and mentalities and demonstrates pedagogy regarding the specificities of Mauritian law applied to the structuring of international estates.

Estate Planning

Estate Planning is the process of anticipating and organising one’s succession in a way that is lawful, efficient, optimised and faithful to the individual’s last wishes.

An effective estate plan therefore involves:

• Individualised advice, so that the testator’s intentions can be precisely understood;
• An in-depth analysis of the estate and its components;
• A thorough knowledge of the legal framework, i.e. what can or cannot be done (inheritance laws, the rights of reserved heirs, public policy, applicable tax, etc.); and
• Precisely drafted legal documents to avoid any interpretation issues and anticipate disputes between heirs or beneficiaries
• Our estate planning matters are always international in scope.
• In the most technical cases we are able to:
  Draft technical legal opinions;
• Work closely with notaries, accountants, independent financial advisors, foreign attorneys, barristers and solicitors;
• Analyse each situation and advise on appropriate strategies;
• Constitute companies, trusts, foundations, etc., ensuring the coherence of their operation.

Mauritian Trusts

A trust is a legal arrangement, governed by the Trusts Act 2001 and the Mauritian Code civil, by which a settlor transfers property to a trusted person (trustee) who holds and manages it for the benefit of designated beneficiaries. A trust can arise from the simple effect of the law, by judicial decision, or by an act of private will.

Drawing on his years of experience advising an Anglophone clientele in France, Maître Simon DECEUNINCK has become one of the rare French lawyers competent in matters of foreign trusts. Now, he constitutes different types of trusts under Mauritian law: succession trust, spendthrift trust, charitable or philanthropic trust, revocable or irrevocable, discretionary or not, etc.

In complete confidentiality, we welcome you and discuss on the opportunity of establishing a Mauritian trust, always in full compliance with local law and foreign or international standards (civil compatibility, tax compliance, etc.).

Wills & Last Wishes

We also assist our clients in the drafting of their wills. Depending on the specificities of each file, we propose traditional or innovative solutions.

Beyond asset questions, estate planning takes on spiritual aspects (organisation of funerals, religious rites, last messages…) to which the greatest attention must be paid.

Whatever the mission entrusted to us, we offer in all circumstances a transparent, highly confidential, and supportive framework to our clients.

Cross-Border Successions

Thanks to our niche positioning and our international network, we have developed expertise in international succession law.

We therefore regularly assist French, British, American, South African and other private individuals with:

• Adapting their estate plan to reflect their international mobility;
• The efficient settlement of international successions;
• The efficient settlement of international successions;

Here, flexibility and expertise are key. Dealing on a daily-basis with international files in the French and English languages, we take into account the specificities of foreign laws and their necessary articulation with Mauritian mandatory rules.

Tax Optimisation

Bequeathing as much of one’s estate as possible (that is to say, the reward of a lifetime of effort) to one’s heirs, loved ones, or a charity is undeniably a legitimate goal. Before proposing a holographic will model, constituting a trust or a foundation, or recommending the services of a notary for a donation, a dismemberment of property, or any other operation, we systematically analyse the tax consequences of the estate plan. This allows us to:

• Identify avenues for minimising gift or inheritance taxes; and
• Offer valuable assistance regarding our clients’ mandatory declarations.