Meta Octav through our subsidiary & partners  also offer Foundation & Trust services to clients. Foundations and trusts play a vital role in wealth preservation, succession planning, philanthropy, and asset protection, and our services are designed to address these goals while ensuring compliance with local Swiss and international regulations. Below are the specific services that we offer in this area:

1. Foundation Creation & Structuring

• Foundation Setup: Establishing Swiss foundations (both private and charitable) for a wide range of purposes, including wealth preservation, family governance, and philanthropy.

• Customized Foundation Structures: Designing tailored structures based on the client’s specific needs, such as family foundations, charitable foundations, or purpose-based foundations.

• Statutes & Governance Frameworks: Drafting the statutes and bylaws of the foundation, which govern its operations, including the roles and responsibilities of the foundation’s governing bodies, such as the foundation council.

• Registered Office & Administrative Services: Providing a registered office for the foundation in Switzerland and offering administrative services, including managing foundation documentation and meeting regulatory requirements.

2. Trust Formation & Administration

• Trust Creation: Assisting in setting up various types of trusts such as family trusts, asset protection trusts, charitable trusts, and discretionary trusts, with a focus on protecting assets and ensuring efficient estate planning.

• Trust Deed Drafting: Drafting the trust deed, which defines the rules, powers, and responsibilities of the trustees, beneficiaries, and the settlor (the person establishing the trust).

• Trust Governance: Establishing governance frameworks, including selecting trustees, outlining their duties and powers, and creating mechanisms for beneficiary communication and dispute resolution.

• Trust Administration: Providing ongoing administrative support for managing the trust’s assets, distributing income to beneficiaries, and ensuring compliance with legal requirements.

3. Asset Protection & Wealth Preservation

• Asset Protection Planning: Setting up asset protection strategies through trusts and foundations to shield wealth from potential creditors, lawsuits, divorce claims, and political instability.

• Offshore Trust Structures: If applicable, creating offshore trusts in jurisdictions with strong asset protection laws and favorable tax regimes to complement Swiss-based structures.

• Multijurisdictional Asset Protection: Advising clients on protecting assets across multiple jurisdictions, especially for families or businesses with cross-border holdings.

• Succession Planning: Using trusts and foundations to ensure smooth wealth transfer to the next generation, providing tax efficiency and avoiding probate.

4. Philanthropy & Charitable Foundations

• Charitable Foundation Setup: Assisting clients in setting up charitable foundations for philanthropy, with a focus on tax-efficient giving and aligning the foundation’s mission with the client’s personal values.

• Purpose-Driven Foundations: Structuring foundations with specific purposes (e.g., supporting education, healthcare, the arts) to create a lasting legacy and social impact.

• Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs): Helping clients create DAFs to provide flexibility in charitable giving, allowing clients to recommend grants over time while maintaining control over the distribution of assets.

• Endowment Fund Creation: Establishing endowment funds to ensure the long-term sustainability of charitable projects or foundations.

• Tax Optimization for Charitable Giving: Providing strategic advice on tax-efficient donation strategies, including donor-advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, and the use of Swiss tax incentives for philanthropy.

5. Trustee Services & Governance

• Professional Trustee Services: Offering professional trustee services to ensure the effective administration of trusts and foundations, including fiduciary duties, asset management, and compliance with local laws.

• Independent Trustees: Acting as independent trustees or recommending trusted independent fiduciaries, which helps avoid conflicts of interest and ensures neutral oversight of family or business structures.

• Corporate Trusteeship: In cases where a corporate trustee is needed, offering services as a trustee through a Swiss trust company for larger, more complex estates or foundations.

• Trustee & Beneficiary Relationship Management: Helping manage relationships between trustees and beneficiaries, ensuring communication, and minimizing disputes, while respecting the terms of the trust or foundation.

6. Estate Planning & Succession

• Family Trusts for Succession Planning: Assisting clients with family trusts designed to ensure that family wealth is passed down across generations, avoiding probate and reducing inheritance taxes.

• Generational Wealth Planning: Structuring trusts and foundations to manage wealth across multiple generations, ensuring alignment with family values and continuity of control.

• Intergenerational Transfer of Assets: Creating a strategy for transferring business interests, real estate, or other significant assets from one generation to the next through trusts or foundations.

• Inheritance & Will Integration: Integrating wills with trusts and foundation structures to ensure that the client’s estate plan is cohesive and efficiently executed.

7. Tax Optimization & Compliance

• Swiss Tax Planning for Trusts & Foundations: Offering expert advice on the Swiss tax treatment of trusts and foundations, helping clients take advantage of tax-efficient structures for income, capital gains, and inheritance tax.

• International Tax & Reporting Compliance: Advising on cross-border tax issues related to trust or foundation ownership, including OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS), FATCA, and automatic exchange of information (AEOI).

• Tax-Effective Trust Distributions: Structuring the distribution of income from trusts and foundations to beneficiaries in a tax-efficient manner, taking into account both Swiss tax law and international tax treaties.

• Gift & Estate Tax Planning: Helping clients plan for gift and estate taxes by transferring wealth through trusts and foundations in a way that minimizes tax exposure.

8. Governance, Compliance & Risk Management

• Regulatory Compliance: Ensuring that all trusts and foundations comply with Swiss regulations, including those related to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws, and other relevant Swiss and international regulatory bodies.

• AML/KYC Compliance: Assisting clients in meeting AML/KYC obligations, especially for trusts and foundations that hold assets from multiple jurisdictions or are involved in charitable giving.

• Internal Governance Structures: Helping design and implement internal governance frameworks for foundations and trusts to ensure transparency, accountability, and alignment with the client’s objectives.

• Risk Management: Offering risk management strategies to ensure that the foundation or trust can withstand external risks (such as political or market risks) and that the client’s wealth is effectively safeguarded.

9. Administration & Reporting Services

• Annual Reporting & Compliance: Providing annual financial reporting services for trusts and foundations, including tax filings, compliance with Swiss laws, and documentation for beneficiaries and regulators.

• Asset Management & Investment Oversight: Offering investment management services for trusts and foundations, ensuring assets are managed according to the wishes of the settlor or founder, and in line with the legal framework.

• Distribution Management: Administering the distribution of income or assets to beneficiaries in accordance with the trust or foundation’s terms, ensuring compliance with both legal and family governance requirements.

• Beneficiary Communication: Facilitating clear communication with beneficiaries, ensuring they are informed about the status of the trust or foundation and their entitlements.

10. Foundation & Trust Succession Planning

• Foundation Continuity Plans: Helping ensure that a foundation can continue to operate beyond the founder’s lifetime by developing a succession plan for future leadership and governance of the foundation.

• Trust Successor Appointments: Assisting with the appointment of successor trustees and ensuring that they are well-prepared to manage the trust in accordance with its terms.

• Advisory Boards & Family Councils: For family foundations, setting up family councils or advisory boards to involve the next generation in governance and decision-making, fostering family unity and long-term continuity.

11. Family Governance & Education

• Family Governance Frameworks: Assisting clients in creating family governance structures to guide decision-making, wealth distribution, and business ownership across generations.

• Education for Next Generation: Offering educational programs for the next generation on the management of family wealth, the responsibilities of being a beneficiary of a trust or foundation, and family values and mission.

At Meta Octav, we knew what we are doing. Our goals are to ensure that your legacy goes beyond tomorrow.