Wendy and Paul are married with two young children. Paul (46) is British and had lived in South Africa for 11 years, working as a head of investments for an international bank. He met his wife, Wendy, in South Africa, which is her home country. The couple were keen to move to the UK for their children’s education, and Paul had been offered a transfer through his bank. They wanted to set-up their affairs so they could easily move from the UK once their children were financially independent.

The planning process

We worked closely with Wendy and Paul’s tax advisers in London and Cape Town to ensure they were fully prepared for their move to the UK. Given that Paul had become a South African tax resident, but remained UK domiciled, this process involved him realising his liquid investments before becoming UK tax resident. Also, as Wendy would retain her South Africa domicile while resident in the UK, Paul gifted a proportion of the proceeds to Wendy

As a mixed domicile couple it was possible to allocate their liquid investments in a more efficient manner to help them to best achieve their financial goals. In addition, life insurance played an important role in the planning process, both protecting Wendy in the event of Paul dying prematurely, having made the gift and for planning for the inheritance tax exposure on his personally-owned assets.

We were well placed to help Wendy and Paul with the use of both our UK and international booking centres, a dedicated London-based private banker and wealth planning expertise, as well as assisting them in their search for a UK home and providing them with mortgage finance.

The team worked with the couple’s existing professional tax and legal advisers throughout the planning process.

The results

Paul’s continued employment meant that they had little need to draw on their international funds, and instead the couple used proceeds to buy a holiday home in Châtel, in the French Alps, to indulge their love of skiing. With the acceptance of their oldest to a private school in Rutland, Wendy is looking to relocate the London home to be nearer their daughter and instead buy a small flat in the capital for the couple’s use. They are using the bank to facilitate the property financing.