Claude is a private client solicitor who advises in relation to wills, estate planning, tax, domestic and international trust and corporate structures, residence and domicile, powers of attorney, probate and estate administration, and charities. He has a broad client base, advising individuals, families, trustees, executors, beneficiaries, corporate entities, family offices, trust companies and other institutions supporting them.
Claude’s practice principally focuses on advising high-net-worth individuals and their families on how best to structure, manage and protect their personal estates and affairs for themselves and future generations. This often involves advice on tax planning, asset structuring, wills and powers of attorney.
Claude’s other area of specialism is the administration of complex and often substantial estates, frequently with international elements. He also advises on the creation and administration of charitable entities.
Expertise
- Will advice and drafting for UK and non-UK domiciled individuals
- Tax and succession planning for UK and non-UK domiciled individuals (including asset protection, life assurance policy trusts and pension nominations)
- Complex UK and cross-border probate and estate administration
- Trusts (including their planning, creation, administration and winding-up)
- Domicile and tax residence advice (including in relation to those relocating to and from the UK)
- Mental incapacity (including advice on Enduring and Lasting Powers of Attorney)
- Charities (including their creation and administration)
Experience
- Advised an elderly high-net-worth individual, the beneficiary of a contentious high-value estate mainly comprising farming assets, in relation to lifetime gifts, her will and lasting powers of attorney for financial and health and care decisions. Included advice on mental capacity issues and instructing medical practitioners, the structuring of conditional gifts in the will to individuals under police investigation and charities to obtain a reduction to the rate of inheritance tax, and preparing supplementary ‘back-up’ lasting powers of attorney and amending existing ones after registration.
- Advised an ultra-high-net-worth non-UK domiciled individual on the structuring of the purchase of two high-value residential properties in the UK, including the preparation of a UK will and lasting powers of attorney with bespoke letters of wishes, domicile advice and the writing of a substantial life assurance policy into trust to provide for potential inheritance tax liability.
- Advised in relation to the structuring of a substantial lifetime gift of UK residential property to a high-net-worth individual’s child including the use of a private loan, a bare trust and co-ownership agreement, the preparation of a will incorporating discretionary trusts and bespoke letters of wishes, lasting powers of attorney and nuptial agreement.
- Advised the executors of a multi-jurisdictional estate in relation to the reporting to HMRC of a complex claim for non-UK domicile including, advice on gifts with reservation, pre-owned assets tax, trust interests, deeds of variation, HMRC enquiries and the ongoing administration of the estate.
- Advised the trustees in relation to the complex tax implications of the retention by a will trust of a loan note assigned to the deceased as part of an inheritance tax planning exercise by the surviving parents and assisting with the preparation of trust deeds and documentation to mitigate the tax and bring the trust to an end, and associated reporting to HMRC.
- Advised in relation to the setting up of a UK charitable entity (with a view to international expansion) for the advancement of the education of disadvantaged younger generations through to university.
- Acted as chairman trustee and provided advice to a charity for the benefit of the advancement of the theatrical arts.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Named as one of ePrivateClient’s Top 35 Under 35 in 2016 and 2017
Named as one of Citywealth’s Future Leaders in 2017
Career
Claude qualified as a solicitor in 2012. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2021, he worked at the following firms:
- Brecher
- Penningtons Manches
- Irwin Mitchell
- Berkeley Law