International Succession Planning: Challenges for Families with Assets Outside Brazil

"A man's dying is more the survivors' affair than his own."

The growth of cross-border wealth diversification among Brazilian families has introduced new challenges to succession planning. Owning real estate, financial investments, businesses, and other assets across different jurisdictions requires attention to legal, tax, and operational aspects far more complex than those in purely domestic scenarios.

Each country has its own rules for the transfer of assets upon death. Issues such as wills, acceptance of inheritance, order of hereditary succession, and inheritance taxation vary significantly. Common law countries (such as the United States and the United Kingdom) allow for structures like trusts and broadly flexible wills, while civil law countries (such as France, Spain, and Brazil) impose legal limits on the disposition of assets.

Borders do not stop wealth but they can complicate its transmission.

One of the greatest risks lies in the possibility of double taxation on inheritances, especially when assets are exposed in jurisdictions that levy specific taxes on causa mortis transfers. Countries like the United States can impose rates exceeding 40% on amounts transferred to non-resident heirs. The absence of treaties to avoid double taxation between Brazil and most of these countries aggravates the problem, as charges may occur both abroad and in Brazil.

- Thomas Mann