A Balanced Scorecard Approach to Trust Jurisdiction Selection

Co-authored by Steve Sokić, Chairman, Crestbridge Family Office Services and Darrell King, Managing Director, Americas, Crestbridge Fiduciary.

This article was first published in the July/August 2025 edition of the STEP Journal.

The fundamental purpose of the structuring of family wealth using trusts, holding companies and/or other vehicles is to mitigate various risks pertaining to such wealth itself and to the family.

Such risks are normally amplified when wealth and/or it’s family owners (as the case may be) is quantitively large, crosses borders and is more complex.   The question of “where” (which jurisdiction/country) to structure the wealth is one very important part of that risk mitigation exercise, one which is almost always considered, but regrettably in practice for many global wealthy families, such consideration is not always based on a reasoned, balanced or logical analytical process.  That then in turn often gives rise to further (jurisdictional) risk exposure, something the whole planning process is intended to mitigate, not create more of.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE