The 2024 Practitioners’ Forum on Stress Testing Trust Structures

Marcus has more than 25 years’ experience as both an English lawyer and a Cayman-based professional trustee. The main part of Marcus’s practice involves managing disputes involving wealthy global families and their associated structures.

He has in-depth experience of establishing and managing structures and resolving disputes that arise in a practical, commercial and cost-efficient manner. He has led the management of many disputes around the world, most recently a multi-billion dollar, multi-jurisdiction dispute involving prominent Middle Eastern families.

He has experience of dealing with litigation in England, Cayman, BVI, Bermuda, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the US. His offshore address book is second to none. Clients are impressed at his round-the-clock availability, his ability to identify the key issues quickly and to assemble the right global team rapidly to tackle any type of dispute.

Marcus is an English-qualified lawyer and was a Cayman-based professional trustee for eight years and has worked in London and Cheltenham law firms (managing private client teams) and managed trust companies in the Cayman Islands.

Richard Wilson KC has a practice encompassing litigation, drafting and advisory work across a wide range of traditional and commercial chancery, with a strong emphasis on trusts and probate (both contentious and non-contentious), related company and partnership law, claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, tax, professional negligence and civil fraud.

Hugh specialises in tax disputes and investigations. His clients include internationally mobile high net worth clients and other private individuals, family businesses, trustees, entrepreneurs and corporates, both small and large. His practice covers the full range of UK taxes, both direct and indirect; including income tax, CGT, inheritance tax, SDLT, corporation tax and VAT.

Hugh has experience of litigating tax cases at all levels, from the specialist tax tribunals through to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. A significant element of Hugh’s practice involves remedying unsuccessful planning (often involving complex trust arrangements), including by way of claims for mistake and rectification in both the UK and offshore jurisdictions. He also acts on tax-related professional negligence disputes and other trust and commercial disputes with a tax angle.

Hugh has been recognised as a 'Rising Leader' in Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite 2022.

Ben is a Guernsey Advocate and Partner of Collas Crill's Private Client and Trusts team.

His practice is focussed on contentious and semi-contentious trust work, advising both trustees and beneficiaries and appearing in the Royal Court in Guernsey on those matters.

He has a particular interest in the issues around the succession to wealth by the next generation. Recent highlights include: acting for the beneficiary of a trust in a proposed restructuring of an UHNW family's wealth following a dispute with their trustee. Planning for the splintering-off of our client's interests, and negotiating the necessary protections; acting for the corporate trustee of a discretionary trust settled for the benefit of the Settlor's children. The Settlor was domiciled in a jurisdiction in which Sharia law would have applied on succession. The trust imported aspects of Sharia law, while also providing for the settlor's daughters. A family dispute resulted in various challenges relating to the trust; acting for the corporate trustee of a trust during the course of a significant family dispute. The aim was to divide the assets of the trust against a lack of any agreement between the beneficiaries as to how that should be done.

Emily provides international private wealth and tax advice to families and trustees of family trusts on a variety of issues. Her areas of expertise include establishing wealth preservation structures such as offshore trusts, foundations and companies, family governance and business succession planning, the reporting of beneficial ownership under the various global initiatives and structuring the acquisition and ownership of UK residential property.

Emily also works closely with families on their philanthropic objectives, including advising on establishment, administration and governance of UK charities and other not-for-profit organisations, as well as advising on charity and UK tax implications of proposed donations and helping to set, monitor and implement philanthropic initiatives.

Much of Emily's work has a cross border element and she has a particular focus on the Middle East, often advising on the use of local structures to hold regional assets, alongside any international structures.

Helen is a Partner in the Joseph Hage Aaronson contentious tax team specialising in UK and international tax disputes. She is a Solicitor and Chartered Tax Adviser, a member of the Society of Tax and Estate Practitioners and is a CEDR accredited mediator. She has recently been included in the City Wealth Leaders List Top 100 Private Client lawyers, is included in the Private Client Global Elite Directory 2023 and appears the Tatler Address Book 2023. Helen writes prolifically for numerous tax publications and is an active committee member at the Chartered Institute of Tax and the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers.

Helen advises both individuals and corporates either engaged directly or as a consultant to an extensive network of professional firms and financial institutions who repeatedly call upon her expertise.

Helen has successfully run numerous residence and domicile cases but will also turn her hand to a wide variety of contentious and advisory tax matters. Helen is an industry leading specialist at running highly technical COP9 investigations where she has a proven track record of successfully negotiating very favourable settlements.

Paul qualified as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales in 1995.  Since then he has worked in London and Guernsey specialising in contentious trust and pensions work. Prior to joining Trust Corporation International which joined the Ocorian Group in December 2021, Paul was a group partner with two leading Guernsey law firms and in house legal counsel at a Guernsey utility.

On the trust side, Paul specialises in managing complex disputes, having previously advised on a number of the most significant trust cases in Guernsey in recent years. Paul also works on contentious pension matters, having acted, before joining Trust Corporation, in a number of major pension disputes in Guernsey. Paul has over twenty years’ experience in structuring and establishing complex trusts and pension schemes, and working with their trustees and advisors. 

As well as his trust and pensions work, Paul is also a prolific writer and has published numerous articles on trust and pensions law in practitioners’ and academic journals, and has contributed chapters to a number of books.

Natasha is a partner in the trust, estate and inheritance disputes team. 

She advises on a wide range of trust and succession disputes both onshore and offshore, including trustee/beneficiary disputes, contested probate and 1975 Act claims, and professional negligence in the context of estate planning and trust administration. 

She also advises on Court of Protection matters, including statutory wills, lifetime gifts, contested registrations and Powers of Attorney. 

Natasha has been described by Legal500 and Chambers & Partners HNW as ‘an outstanding lawyer’, ‘unflappable and has good technical knowledge’ and ‘approachable, she makes time for clients and she has a really sensible head on her shoulders’.

She is a contributing author of The Law Society’s Probate Practitioner’s Handbook and Jordan’s International Trust and Divorce Litigation.

Alona joined Summit in 2008 as a member of the family office team – the team that is focused on larger, more complex trust structures – and since that time gained a wealth of experience in administration and management of trusts and companies holding a wide range of assets from classic investments to residential and commercial real estate, to private jets and yachts,  to art collections and private equity investments.  Alona is now a shareholder in Summit and heads one of Summit’s administration teams in Geneva.

Alona holds a master’s degree in economics from Plekhanov Academy of Economics in Moscow, as well as a master’s degree in human resources management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.  She became STEP-accredited in 2013.

Alona speaks fluent English, Russian and French.

Charlotte Fraser

Charlotte is a partner in Farrer & Co’s Contentious Trusts and Estates team. She acts for executors, settlors, beneficiaries and trustees on a wide range of trust and estate disputes, both onshore and offshore.

Charlotte has extensive experience of complex domestic and multijurisdictional trust disputes involving breach of trust, beneficiary rights of information and jurisdictional issues. Charlotte has particular experience of claims involving fraud and asset tracing and has represented both claimants and defendants in connection with freezing injunctions and disclosure orders. Charlotte frequently advises on succession issues including validity claims, capacity and construction issues as well as claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975.

Charlotte is ranked Band 2 for Private Wealth Disputes in the Chambers High Net Worth directory and as a Next Generation Partner for Contentious Trusts and Probate in the Legal 500 directory. She is also recognised for her Civil Fraud expertise.

Emma specialises in complex domestic and international litigation with a particular focus on fraud, trust disputes, asset tracing and probate and succession disputes.

She acts for a wide range of clients including multinational corporations, trust companies and high-net-worth individuals.

Emma has experience of litigation both in England and across the world, including Guernsey, Jersey, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hong Kong and the United States. She has particular expertise in complex and multi-jurisdictional disputes involving trustees, beneficiaries and protectors of English and offshore trusts as well fraud cases (often involving injunctions).

Emma is a member of the Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association and the Contentious Trusts Association. She has also completed a secondment at a leading independent Chinese law firm in Beijing.

Monika Byrska is a bilingual solicitor specialising in trust, will and estate disputes. 

Monika advises in all types of private client disputes. This includes: will challenges, Inheritance Act claims, disputes relating to the administration of estates, actions against trustees and personal representatives, promissory estoppel claims, trust disputes between co-owners of a property, and application for directions in administration of trusts and estates. 

As a STEP-qualified practitioner, she is uniquely qualified to assist with both contentious and non-contentious aspects of trust and estate administration. She therefore also represents personal representatives and trustees advising on the administration of trusts and estates, which are complex or entangled in disputes. 

As Monika often meets clients when they are going through their most difficult times, she aims to put them at ease with her straightforward and compassionate approach. She has passion and years of experience in resolving what may seem to be the most impossible disputes over wealth.  

She is bilingual and able to service clients in Polish. With a background in linguistics and interpretation, Monika also has a working knowledge of a couple other European languages. 

Oliver advises trustees, protectors, high-net-worth individuals, charities and beneficiaries in a broad range of domestic and offshore trust and estates disputes, including claims relating to breach of trust, sham, mistake and challenges to trusts on divorce or insolvency. He also advises on trustees’ applications for rectification, directions or construction issues, variation of trusts applications and applications for the removal of trustees.

Oliver is a member of the Association of Contentious Trusts and Probate and regularly writes for legal publications specialising in trust and estate matters. He co-authors the trust litigation chapter in the STEP-approved loose-leaf Planning and Administration of Offshore and Onshore Trusts and is a member of the ‘LexisNexis panel of Private Client experts’.

Hannah is a partner, specialising in a broad range of disputes involving trusts and estates.

She is highly experienced in advising on contentious private client matters, such as will disputes; claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975; professional negligence claims; and disputes involving trust or estate administration.  Hannah also advises on contentious Court of Protection matters, including statutory will and lifetime gift applications, contested deputyship applications and disputes regarding the registration of Lasting and Enduring Powers of Attorney (LPA/EPA).  She acts for claimants and defendants, based in the UK or overseas, whether private individuals or professionals. 

Hannah is recognised as an Up and Coming partner by Chambers & Partners, and as a Rising Leader by Legal Week’s Private Client Global Elite. 

Kyra specialises in international succession, wealth structuring, tax and estate planning advice for individuals and their families as well as related advice to family offices.

Kyra’s work all has an international element, including advising on wealth structuring in civil law and sharia law countries and probate for multi-jurisdictional estates. Kyra is trusted adviser to several international families, helping to manage their global legal affairs.

Kyra has extensive experience in UK pre-arrival planning for non-domiciliaries and remittance basis advice. Kyra advises regularly in relation to the implementation of trusts and corporate holding vehicles, both for entrepreneurs, private equity executives and for other high-net-worth individuals.

Jonathan Burt has spent 25 years advising international entrepreneurs and wealth owners. His clients typically have a connection with the UK through tax residency or domicile, or invest in UK businesses or real estate. His clients invariably have interests in trusts or companies, often outside the UK, which hold businesses or investments.

He is an expert adviser on UK resident non-domiciled individuals, their assets in and outside the UK and their trust structures. He does a great deal of cross-border estate planning for international families who hold assets in different countries. He often advises on people moving countries and the tax and immigration issues which those people must consider.

Jonathan often advises on the key issue of how assets should be properly controlled through the ‘life cycle’ of a family and its businesses. In doing this, Jonathan typically addresses the ‘milestones’ a person may go through including marriage, children, divorce, incapacity and death, and analyses the impact of these events on the assets in which that person has an interest.

Jonathan draws on the experience he gained when he was a managing director of Barclays’ trust companies. He has found this experience invaluable in helping him to understand how trust businesses work commercially and to assemble the appropriate team of trustees and advisers to support properly the structures people create to control their wealth.

Jonathan also works with his clients to ensure they are tax compliant in the jurisdictions in which they are resident or hold interests. This has become all the more important given exchange of information programmes such as FATCA and the common reporting standard. Jonathan has experience of dealing with these programmes, both from his time working for Barclays and providing clients with legal advice. He also has experience of advising on exchange of information programmes.

Christopher Cook is a senior associate and solicitor advocate in Baker McKenzie's Global Wealth Management practice. He works closely with financial institutions, ultra-high-net worth individuals and leading entrepreneurial families on a broad range of wealth management matters. Christopher advises leading private banks, high-net worth individuals and family-controlled businesses on a variety of areas, including cross-border and general tax planning, life insurance structuring, trusts, succession planning, and business structuring, as well as advising on contentious matters including issues concerning the validity of offshore trust structures, national and international tax investigations and family disputes. Christopher has significant experience in designing and establishing bespoke international asset-holding and wealth management structures including private trust companies, limited partnerships and family offices. Christopher also has experience in advising charities and individuals on philanthropy and not-for-profit matters.

Janine is a Director within the Trust and Private Wealth department and she is responsible for the provision of trust and company administration services for a large number of private and professional clients worldwide. Janine is a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and she has been with the company since 2003. 

Will is a Partner in the International Trusts and Private Client team in Jersey. He advises corporate, charitable and private clients from a range of jurisdictions on the creation, ongoing management and termination of BVI, Cayman and Jersey trusts and other wealth and succession planning vehicles.

He moved to Jersey in June 2016 having previously worked in the BVI and England, where he trained and qualified.

In Legal 500 UK 2024, Will is ranked as a Rising Star and a Recommended Lawyer in Private Client, Trusts and Tax. A source in the guide describes him as "personable, responsive and thorough."

Will Burnell is listed as a Global Elite - Lawyer in the Private Client Global Elite Directory 2023.

In Legal 500 UK 2023, Will is a Recommended Lawyer for Private Client, Trusts and Tax.

Jill Carpenter is a Partner with Rawlinson & Hunter Singapore, where she has lived and practiced for 14 years.  Jill holds a Management degree from the University of Lethbridge (Canada) as well as TEP (Trust and Estate Practitioner) and MTI (Member Trust Institute) designations and is currently completing her Mediation accreditation with the Singapore Mediation Centre. Jill specializes in trust and estate planning and the administration of complex and contentious structures.

I am a Client Services Director in the Jersey office.  Having qualified as a non-practising Barrister and Solicitor of England and Wales I spent five years in private practice in both England and Jersey.

Thereafter I moved into the offshore finance industry in 2009, completing the STEP diploma in International Offshore Administration.  My legal background enables me to specialise in the administration of contentious, complex and / or distressed offshore structures, in particular those involved in litigation or under criminal or tax investigation. 

Rupert Ticehurst is head of dispute resolution at Maurice Turnor Gardner. He joined Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP in January 2019 and heads the firm’s Dispute Resolution team. His practice covers trust, probate and commercial litigation as well as private client advisory work. 

David is a Managing Director leading Interpath’s market leading Contentious Insolvency team. He has over 30 years’ experience of working on some of the largest and most high profile and complex matters. David is recognised as the leading practitioner in Court Appointed Receivership and has pioneered the innovative use of this powerful process in numerous international and offshore situations. He regularly instructs lawyers in jurisdictions around the world and lectures extensively on various aspects of contentious insolvency and asset recovery.

David has led a number of high profile and complex bankruptcies, liquidations, Court Appointed Receiverships and Deceased Estates. 

Kate is a Senior Counsel within the Private Client group specialising in contentious trusts and estates work. Kate has extensive litigation experience in acting for trustees and beneficiaries in England, Jersey and other offshore jurisdictions including Bermuda and the Bahamas.  Kate also has considerable civil fraud, asset tracing and recovery experience and she assists clients with alternative dispute resolution strategies, including mediation.  Kate has recently developed an expertise in dealing with insolvent trust structures following her work on the precedent setting Z Trust case for which our team was awarded the Contentious Trusts and Probate Team of the year at the British Legal Awards in 2020.  Kate was a selected practitioner in eprivateclient's 2023 annual list of leading young private client practitioners in the UK and UK Crown Dependencies.

Kerrie is a Director at HIGHVERN, an independent fiduciary services provider, and part of the senior team in its pan-island Private Wealth department. She is qualified as a Guernsey Advocate and has practised as a senior lawyer in in the trusts and private client teams of several leading offshore law firms. Prior to joining HIGHVERN in November 2022, she ran her own boutique private wealth legal practice for two years, specialising in legal services for fiduciaries and private clients. Kerrie has extensive experience of advising on complex, high-value structures, including trusts, foundations and corporate entities, set up by HNWIs and entrepreneurs.

At HIGHVERN, Kerrie uses her industry experience and knowledge, and her technical skills, in working with clients and their advisers to set up and administer robust structures, tailored to each individual client’s specific circumstances and requirements.

Kerrie sits on the Guernsey Association of Trustees’ Executive Committee and leads the association’s Technical Committee, regularly contributing to industry consultations on changes to legislation and regulation affecting Guernsey’s fiduciary sector.

Brian is the Head of BVI Dispute Resolution. He is a "formidable" commercial litigation barrister, with considerable experience of civil fraud, insolvency and trust disputes. He regularly appears in the BVI Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal and is "a very strong advocate". He is known for "giving sound and realistic advice, while fiercely fighting his client’s corner and finding creative solutions to advance its interests". His global team of BVI lawyers has been described in the leading directories as being: "exemplary", "a slick operation" and "a tight, well-run group of clever, hardworking lawyers". His cases often involve the Middle East or the FSU.

Emma advises on contentious matters under Guernsey and BVI law, specialising in complex cross-border trusts disputes.

She has a mix of onshore and offshore experience, and previously practiced with a boutique firm in London specialising in digital asset and cryptocurrency-related disputes.

Emma has more than a decade's experience in private practice in London and in Guernsey – where she advised on the Carlyle litigation, Guernsey's longest-running corporate dispute - and joined Bedell Cristin in 2023.