On August 15th 2015 the long awaited Brussels IV change to succession planning finally went into effect. These changes will be felt widely as in an average year over 450,000 cross-border successions occur across the EU with a value of 120 billion.
The most important aspect of the law is that it unifies the succession law, which applies to an estate, rather than allowing any number of succession laws to (possibly) apply to different assets in different circumstances.
The default position will be that the law of the country in which the deceased was habitually resident will apply for their succession. The law applied can also be overridden by an election to your country of nationality through a will.
This is a significant relief for ex-patriots who own property in the European Union and are also nationals of countries, which do not have a forced heirship regime, such as the UK or the US.
Dunhill Financial, SPRL is an international firm offering fee-based planning and wealth management solutions to primarily (but not exclusively) English-speaking expatriates residing in Belgium. The advisors have a wide breadth of experience working in large multi-national firms and enjoy working with individual clients.
The aim is to create an environment of trust, discretion and confidence through offering personalized solutions. Through aggregated planning and collaborating (where appropriate with your accountant and attorney) they will be in a position to help with every aspect of your financial planning.
Through different vehicles they can help you in all of your retirement, estate planning and education needs. They will select a diverse group of carefully chosen, and vigorously monitored investment managers to look after your assets rather than promoting packages of their own.