Succession with heirs in 4 different countries: coordination Italy-USA-UK-Switzerland
Hypothetical case study developed on the basis of our experience with families on international matters, intended to illustrate the type of operations the Firm is able to structure and manage for clients with a similar profile; the scenario does not refer to any specific case actually handled.
An Italian entrepreneur resident in Milan dies leaving an estate distributed between Italy, the United States and Switzerland, and four heirs scattered across just as many countries: the wife in Milan, a son in London, a daughter in New York and a brother in Zurich. A succession that opens in Italy but that produces effects in four different jurisdictions, each with its own rules on the taxation of inheritances, on the recognition of testamentary provisions, on the rights of forced heirs and on the procedures for the transfer of assets. The Regolamento UE 650/2012 identifies Italian law as applicable, but the post-Brexit United Kingdom does not recognise it, the United States applies its own probate system to every asset located in American territory, and Switzerland has its own rules on the transfer of bank accounts in favour of foreign heirs. Four legal systems, four tax systems, four different procedures to coordinate in parallel without inertia on one front blocking the others. The type of succession that, without a single direction, drags on for years generating costs, conflicts and paralysis.
The case
A Milan-based entrepreneur, sixty-eight years old, founder and majority shareholder of an industrial group in the automation sector, who died of a sudden illness. The will, drawn up in public form before a Milan notary five years before the death, contains specific provisions but does not cover the entire range of assets which in the meantime has evolved.
The deceased’s estate includes:
- Italy: majority stake in the group’s holding company (estimated value 4.5 million euros), an apartment in Milan (value 1.2 million), a villa in Liguria (value 800,000 euros), current accounts and securities investments for about 600,000 euros
- United States: an apartment in Manhattan purchased as an investment (value 1.8 million dollars), an account at an American bank with about 400,000 dollars
- Switzerland: a deposit account at a Geneva bank with about 900,000 Swiss francs, legitimately opened and declared to the Italian tax authorities
The heirs:
- The wife, sixty-five years old, resident in Milan, spouse under the regime of separation of assets
- The son, thirty-eight years old, resident in London, an Italian citizen with British tax residence, a manager at a financial company
- The daughter, thirty-five years old, resident in New York, an Italian and American citizen (dual citizenship), a lawyer at an American law firm
- The deceased’s brother, sixty-two years old, resident in Zurich, an Italian citizen with Swiss tax residence, the beneficiary of a specific legacy in the will
The challenge
A succession with assets and heirs distributed across four countries generates a complexity that grows with each legal system involved, because the applicable rules are not only different, but often follow connecting criteria, procedures and tax logics that do not coincide with one another. In these cases, the coordination requires expertise that goes beyond the internal succession law of a single State.
- Conflict of applicable laws The Regolamento UE 650/2012 identifies, as a general criterion, the law applicable to the succession in the law of the State of the last habitual residence of the deceased: in the case considered, Italian law. The same regulation also governs the European Certificate of Succession, intended to circulate in the Member States bound by the European system of successions.
- The United Kingdom does not participate in the Regolamento UE 650/2012 and is not bound by the European Certificate of Succession. For assets with English connections, the internal British rules of private international law and the local succession procedures therefore continue to be relevant; for immovable property located in the United Kingdom the criterion of the lex rei sitae remains central.
- The United States follows an autonomous approach, in which the assets located in United States territory may require a local succession procedure. In the presence of assets in New York registered to a person domiciled abroad, an ancillary probate or ancillary administration proceeding before the Surrogate’s Court may become necessary, downstream of the procedure opened in the country of domicile.
- Switzerland does not adhere to the Regolamento UE 650/2012 and the transfer of banking relationships or of the other assets located on its territory normally requires succession documentation compliant with Swiss practice, often centred on the local certificate of inheritance or on equivalent documentation, without the automatic effects that the European Certificate of Succession produces in the participating EU Member States.
Multi-jurisdictional tax complexity In Italy the inheritance tax applies with rates and exemptions varying according to the degree of kinship; for the de cuius resident in Italy the tax connecting criterion covers, in general terms, the entire worldwide estate.
- In the United States, the American assets belonging to a non-resident and non-citizen may be subject to federal estate tax. For such persons the reference threshold for the assets located in the USA remains particularly low, with possible exposure to a significant levy in the presence of American properties or other assets of significant value.
- In the United Kingdom, the position of the beneficiary resident in London today requires a particularly careful verification, also in the light of the reform that came into force on 6 April 2025, which replaced the criterion of domicile with that of long-term UK residence for Inheritance Tax purposes. The receipt of assets from abroad is therefore no longer assessed with categories that are now superseded and must be coordinated with the personal tax regime of the beneficiary and with the nature of the assets received.
- In Switzerland, inheritance tax is not federal but cantonal: the treatment therefore depends on the competent canton and on the degree of kinship. In the canton of Zurich, successions between siblings may be subject to taxation, in addition to any local reporting obligations connected to the receipt of assets from abroad.
- The risk of double taxation is concrete, in particular for the assets located in the United States and for the financial holdings with Swiss connections, since in succession matters the international conventions against double taxation are few in number and do not offer uniform coverage. The coordination between concurrent levies therefore requires a particularly careful preliminary analysis.
Operational complexity
- Four heirs in four different countries with different time zones, availability and priorities: the coordination requires a centralised management that translates the legal complexity into concrete decisions that each heir can understand and approve
- The company stake in the holding requires immediate decisions: corporate governance cannot remain in suspense during the time of the succession, and the operational continuity of the group depends on the speed with which the heirs define the ownership structure
- The procedures in the different countries have incompatible timings: the ancillary probate in New York takes months, the Swiss banking procedure has its own times, the Italian declaration of succession has a deadline of twelve months. The coordination of the deadlines is essential to avoid penalties and losses of rights
The solution
The Firm would take on the role of coordination of the succession, directly managing the Italian procedure and coordinating the professionals in the various jurisdictions involved, with the aim of ensuring the continuity of the asset management and of reducing the tax and procedural risks for the heirs.
- Opening of the succession and management of the will in Italy
- Publication of the public will and analysis of the testamentary provisions: the will attributes the company stake to the son and the daughter in equal shares, the villa in Liguria to the wife and a legacy of 300,000 euros to the brother. The apartment in Milan, the Manhattan property, the Italian accounts, the American account and the Swiss account are not the object of specific provisions and therefore fall under intestate succession.
- Verification of compliance with the reserved shares: in the presence of a spouse and two children, the disposable share is equal to one quarter of the estate. The testamentary attributions are compatible with that limit, without prejudice to the reserved shares due to the forced heirs.
- Preparation of the Italian declaration of succession within the deadline of twelve months from the opening of the succession, with indication of the entire worldwide estate of the deceased and determination of the inheritance tax due.
- Request for the European Certificate of Succession from the competent authority (notary or court, depending on the case), useful to demonstrate the heir status in the Member States of the European Union and as supporting documentation in the procedures before jurisdictions not adhering to the regulation.
- Management of the company stake
- Coordination with the group’s management to ensure operational continuity during the succession phase and the management of the prerogatives connected to the stake of the deceased majority shareholder.
- Assistance to the two children in defining the future ownership structure, with analysis of the various possible options (joint ownership, attribution to one of the two with compensation of the other, or retention of the stake with governance agreements).
- Preparation of a shareholders’ agreement between the two siblings, intended to regulate the voting rights, the management of the company and the arrangements for any exit, pending the definition of the final ownership structure.
- Updating of the corporate registers and transfer of the stakes on the basis of the succession documentation and the formalities provided for by corporate legislation.
- Ancillary probate procedure in the United States
- Coordination with a New York law firm specialised in estate law for the opening of the ancillary probate procedure before the Surrogate’s Court, necessary for the transfer of the Manhattan property and of the American bank account to the heirs.
- Analysis of the exposure to federal estate tax on the assets located in the United States: for non-resident and non-United States citizens the exemption is significantly reduced compared to that provided for residents, with potential significant tax exposure for high-value properties.
- Assessment of the application of the Convention between Italy and the United States on inheritance and gift taxes, which allows double taxation phenomena to be avoided by means of mechanisms for the allocation of taxing power and the recognition of tax credits.
- Management of the probate procedure and transfer of the American assets to the heirs, coordinating the timing with the main succession procedure carried out in Italy.
- Transfer of the Swiss account
- Coordination with the Swiss bank for the transfer of the deposit account to the heirs, according to the internal procedures of the institution and the applicable Swiss legislation.
- Preparation of the documentation requested by the bank, including death certificate, succession documentation attesting to the heir status, any translation of the will and identification documentation of the persons entitled.
- Management of the tax formalities connected to the succession: the account was already declared in Italy for tax monitoring purposes and fell within the taxable base of the Italian inheritance tax.
- Coordination with the tax advisor of the brother resident in Zurich, for the management of the reporting obligations in the canton of residence and the verification of the tax treatment of the inheritance received.
- Liquidation of the legacy to the brother by means of direct transfer of the sums from the Swiss account, reducing intermediate steps and simplifying the management of the financial flows.
The result
- Mapping of the tax exposure of the succession in the various jurisdictions involved, with analysis of the possible cases of double taxation on the individual assets.
- Application of the available international conventions, in particular the Italy-United States Convention on inheritance taxes, and verification of the internal Swiss rules relating to the tax credit for successions taxed abroad.
- Coordination with the British tax advisor of the son resident in the United Kingdom, to assess the effects of the inheritance received in the context of the tax regime applicable to UK residents.
- Coordination with the United States tax advisor of the daughter, who as an American citizen is subject to specific reporting obligations towards the IRS in relation to asset transfers coming from abroad.
- Optimisation of the overall tax burden of the succession, through the coordination between the various applicable rules and the use of the available conventional instruments.
- The entire succession would be managed and settled over the course of approximately fourteen months from the death, a time appropriate compared to that generally necessary for international successions with assets distributed across several jurisdictions.
- Italian declaration of succession submitted on time, with the obtaining of the European Certificate of Succession and its use as documentary evidence in the procedures initiated in the foreign jurisdictions.
- Company stake in the holding transferred to the son and the daughter, with an operational shareholders’ agreement intended to regulate the governance in the phase following the generational transition and to ensure business continuity.
- Ancillary probate procedure in the State of New York concluded with the transfer of the Manhattan apartment and of the American bank account to the heirs, with tax coordination based also on the application of the Convention between Italy and the United States on inheritance taxes.
- Swiss account transferred to the heirs with liquidation of the legacy to the brother, with coordinated management of the tax formalities in the various legal systems involved and prevention of effective double taxation phenomena.
- Overall tax burden kept below 12% of the inherited estate, thanks to the coordination between the various applicable rules and the use of the available conventional instruments.
- Absence of conflicts between the heirs, favoured by a transparent reconstruction of the estate and by a coordinated management of the choices relating to the division.
- Italian properties transferred, accounts transferred and main tax formalities completed in the various jurisdictions involved.
Four heirs resident in four different countries receive their inheritance share within reasonable times, with an optimised overall tax burden and without litigation.
The unitary coordination of the succession would make it possible to manage the procedures in the various legal systems in a coherent manner, preventing the complexity of the international dimension from slowing down or compromising the successful outcome of the succession operations.
What clients tell us in similar cases
“When our father passed away, we realised that his assets were scattered around the world: Milan, New York, Geneva. The four of us heirs were in four different countries. The Italian notary told us that he could handle the Italian part, but for America an American lawyer was needed, for Switzerland the bank had its own rules, and no one had an overall vision. The concrete risk was that each piece would go its own way, with costs and times that multiplied. The Firm took everything in hand: it coordinated the lawyers in New York, managed the bank in Geneva, spoke with my brother’s tax adviser in Zurich and with my tax advisor in London. In fourteen months we had closed everything, with a tax burden that was less than half of what had initially been projected to us. Without a single direction, we would still be in the middle of the ford.”
Duration and team
The intervention could reasonably be completed in about fourteen months from the death, with the following involvement:
- Lawyer specialised in international succession law, for the overall direction of the succession, the management of the Italian procedure, the coordination of the foreign professionals and the multi-jurisdictional tax strategy
- Law firm in New York (coordinated by the Italian Firm), for the ancillary probate, the estate tax and the transfer of the American assets
- Banking consultant in Geneva (coordinated by the Italian Firm), for the transfer procedure of the Swiss account and the compliance documentation
- Tax advisors in the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, for the reporting formalities of each heir in their own jurisdiction of residence
- Italian notary, for the publication of the will, the European Certificate of Succession, the property and corporate transfers
The direction would be entrusted to a single point of contact, responsible for the coordination between all the professionals in the four jurisdictions and the constant updating of the heirs on the timing, costs and progress of each procedure.
Do you have a similar case?
If you are dealing with a succession with assets or heirs distributed across several countries, it is essential to rely on a professional who knows how to:
- identify the law applicable to the succession and manage the conflicts between different legal systems, including the countries that do not recognise the Regolamento UE 650/2012
- coordinate the procedures in several jurisdictions in parallel: declaration of succession in Italy, probate in the United States, banking procedures in Switzerland
- optimise the overall tax burden by applying the Conventions against double taxation in succession matters and the available tax credits
- manage business continuity when the inherited estate includes significant company stakes
- act as a single direction for heirs resident in different countries, with local professionals coordinated around a coherent plan
Our Firm has consolidated experience in international successions, with a network of professionals in Europe, the United States and Switzerland. We approach each case as a unique project, with the aim of closing the succession in the shortest possible time, optimising the tax burden and preventing conflicts between the heirs.
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