By Camilla Wallace, Wedlake Bell LLP

For over a century in the UK, the trust has been the favoured structure for holding family wealth. However, the UK Government's extension of inheritance tax (IHT) in 2006 to virtually all new and some existing trusts saw many wealthy families look for alternatives. Two of those alternatives are family partnerships and family investment companies.

By Anthony Soukenik, Sandbergphoenix & von Gontard P.C.

Now that we've had a chance to exhale after watching the media blur coverage of the government's fiscal cliff fiasco, if you're a small business owner, this is a good time to ask yourself if your own business is fiscal cliff-proof. Corporate governance and succession planning has no sense of urgency. The deadlines are ever so random, often determined by the sudden death or debilitating illness of the small business president, a natural disaster or the random departure of a trusted key employee or partner.

According to a study by the Bertelsmann foundation, if the rate of child poverty in a country lies above the rate of poverty among the elderly, this is an indicator of inter-generational injustice. It also indicates a higher consumption of living resources at the expense of the next generation. Both indicators, along with the national debt per child, were investigated by the foundation in 29 OECD countries.
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On May 8, 2013, the European Commission proposed a draft directive that is to enable every EU citizen to make cashless payments, by setting up a bank account. According to a current study, within the Member States of the EU around 58 million residents above 15 years of age do not have their own bank account, in spite of the fact that cashless payments are continually increasing in significance.
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