Collas Crill facilitates estate planning debate in Singapore

Collas Crill is facilitating debate on estate planning among industry leaders in Singapore.

Collas Crill is the first and only Channel Island law firm to open an office in Singapore, having launched there in August 2011.

Head of Collas Crill Singapore, Sean Cheong, said: "We have a strong trust and funds practice providing Channel Islands structures to institutional and high net worth individuals internationally.

"We are well established in the Channel Islands and have been named the fastest growing offshore law firm – but as we are new to Singapore it has been mutually beneficial to facilitate debate and discussion around regional issues with industry leaders.

"We were delighted to be able to host, together with PwC Singapore, a roundtable discussion for key individuals in the private client sector. The discussions centred on estate planning tools proportionate to wealth, from simple life cover and wills to family offices and planning issues affecting Muslim clients.

"We are finding that although there is some limited interest in alternative structures to trust (for example foundations and family limited partnerships), for the majority, clients in this region prefer the trust structure.

"A key message coming from our colleagues in Singapore is that the change in industry focus from a product or sales driven approach to creating solutions and bespoke structuring for clients can only be effectively achieved by a deeper understanding of the client's circumstances."

Collas Crill's Angela Calnan said: "Shariah related planning will become increasingly common in this region with the co-existence of Shariah courts alongside mainstream courts in a number of Asian countries, and of course the ease of movement of high net worth clients between the Middle East and Asia (particularly Singapore)."

The next Collas Crill estate planning roundtable event will take place towards the end of June 2012, and such events are intended to become a regular and important fixture for industry leaders.

Ms Cheong said: "We are enjoying facilitating debate and discussion amongst industry leaders from tax practices, law firms, trust companies, private banks, accountants and IFAs in Singapore. A forum such as this can be highly effective for the sharing of insights amongst practitioners."