Estate Planning Across Borders: How to Protect Your Family

Estate planning becomes more complicated when your family, assets and future plans sit in different countries. A will remains important, but it is only one part of the arrangements your family may need.

The practical objective is straightforward: establish who owns each asset, who should receive it, which rules govern the transfer, and how the family will meet its needs while that transfer is being completed. A plan should address those questions without assuming that a document or structure has the same effect everywhere.

The Problem with Local Thinking in a Global Life

A document drafted for one country may need to work alongside another country's property rules, tax rules or institutional requirements. That does not make every foreign will invalid. It means recognition, implementation and tax treatment need to be examined separately.

Consider the questions rather than assuming the outcome. Would a surviving spouse know how to contact the overseas custodian? Would an executor have usable authority where the property sits? Would the intended beneficiaries be eligible to own the asset directly? These are planning scenarios, not claims that any particular client's estate failed.

Start with Jurisdictional Awareness

Build one inventory of the family's property, pensions, investment accounts, insurance, businesses, debts and guarantees. Record the legal owner, asset location, beneficiary arrangements and institution for each item. Add the citizenship and relevant residence history of the owner and intended heirs.

Then ask the lawyers and tax advisers to identify the rules that actually apply. Nationality, residence, domicile, asset location and matrimonial property rights are different concepts. Their relevance varies by country and by the question being answered.

For the operational side of a US account, see our separate article on US assets passing to heirs abroad.

The Core Tools: What Each One Does

Coordinated wills

One will may be sufficient for some families; separate wills may be useful for others. The decision should follow the assets and applicable laws, not a rule that every expat needs one will per country. Where more than one document is used, the drafting lawyers should coordinate their scope and revocation wording.

Trusts and holding structures

A trust, company or other structure should solve an identified problem. Review control, succession, administration, tax classification, cost and the position of future beneficiaries before transferring assets. A foreign structure is not inherently tax-efficient, and its treatment may change when a beneficiary moves country.

A US revocable trust does not, by itself, remove its assets from the settlor's US gross estate. Retained rights can also affect irrevocable trusts. The IRS guidance on estate-tax collection explains this distinction. Family communication also matters; see trusts and family conflict.

Life insurance and liquidity

Insurance may provide money when a family needs it, but payment timing and tax treatment depend on the policy, ownership, beneficiary and relevant jurisdictions. Do not describe an offshore policy as automatically tax-free or guaranteed to bypass every estate process. US estate-tax inclusion can depend on the insured's retained ownership rights; see the Form 706 instructions.

Size any protection around the actual financial gap: living costs, debts, education, dependent care and the period before other assets become usable. Review the cover as the balance sheet changes.

Incapacity arrangements

Ask local counsel which financial authorities, healthcare directions and guardianship arrangements are available and recognised in the places that matter. Do not assume that an overseas power of attorney will be accepted everywhere, or that a document dealing with incapacity also governs transfers after death.

Planning for Children and Dependants

Separate three decisions: who provides day-to-day care, who controls the money, and when a beneficiary should receive control. Those roles need not be held by the same person. Discuss the practical arrangements with the proposed people rather than merely placing names in documents.

School costs, housing, support for a disabled dependant and currency needs should be included in the plan. A nominal inheritance amount is less useful than an explanation of how the family's bills will be met.

Forced Heirship and Matrimonial Property

A will cannot necessarily override every protected family entitlement or ownership right. The applicable succession and matrimonial-property rules must be established before promises are made about who will inherit. A choice of law, marriage agreement or trust should not be treated as a universal workaround.

Where Vietnamese succession rules apply, Article 644 of the Civil Code protects specified heirs, including a spouse, parents, minor children and adult children unable to work, subject to statutory conditions and exceptions. This is not a rule that every adult child must receive the same share. See the Vietnamese Civil Code.

Vietnamese-Specific Considerations

A Vietnamese will does not always have to be notarised to be valid. Article 630 allows a non-notarised written will to be lawful when the required conditions are met. Special circumstances have additional formalities. The Government's explanation of lawful wills sets out the distinction.

Foreign wills are not automatically ineffective. Articles 680–681 address applicable succession law, immovable property and recognition of a will's form. A will may satisfy recognised foreign-law connecting factors, while implementation still requires appropriate documents and procedures. Foreign-language wills also raise translation requirements under Article 647. See the Civil Code provisions.

For Vietnamese property, ask a local lawyer or notary to confirm ownership eligibility, registration, estate documentation and any dispute procedure. A valid will and a completed property transfer are separate steps. It is not accurate to say that every Vietnamese estate necessarily requires a UK-style probate court process.

Tax Efficiency and Treaty Awareness

United Kingdom: from 6 April 2025, the main test bringing non-UK assets within inheritance tax moved from domicile to long-term UK residence. It generally looks at residence in at least 10 of the preceding 20 tax years. Exposure can continue after departure, and transitional rules matter. See HMRC's current guidance. Do not assume that expatriate status alone ends UK inheritance-tax exposure.

United States: citizens and people domiciled in the US for estate-tax purposes can face tax on worldwide estates, but this does not mean every estate pays tax. For deaths in 2026, the federal basic exclusion is US$15 million, with lifetime taxable gifts and other rules affecting the calculation. State taxes and a non-citizen spouse may require separate consideration. See the current Form 706 instructions.

Nonresident noncitizens have a different US estate-tax regime. The US$60,000 US-situated-asset filing threshold in the IRS guidance should not be confused with the exclusion available to citizens and US domiciliaries; treaties may affect particular estates.

For every relevant country, identify the tax base, exemptions, valuation and relief available. Income-tax treaties do not automatically resolve estate or inheritance tax. Avoid planning around a generic statement that foreign inheritance is tax-free or that all jurisdictions charge the same type of tax.

Plan for Control, Not Just Distribution

Keep an accessible record of documents, advisers, accounts and institutions. Explain who should do what, and which funds are intended to cover immediate expenses. A letter of wishes can explain intentions, but its legal effect must not be confused with that of a binding document.

Revisit the arrangements after a move, marriage, divorce, birth, business sale or material rule change. The aim is not the most complicated structure. It is a plan your family and its advisers can actually operate.

Our wills and estate-planning work for foreigners in Vietnam brings the financial picture together and coordinates specialist legal and tax work where required.

This is general planning information, not a legal opinion on a will, trust or estate. The relevant lawyers and tax advisers should confirm the position before documents are signed or assets transferred.