Trusts, And How They Came To Be

What traces its history through Ancient Rome and the Crusades, can have many de facto owners, none at the same time, and can hold entire groups of companies while owning nothing?

The answer is a trust.

Trusts play a vital role in private wealth planning, business structures, local government — in the form of education and healthcare trusts — and charity. The families we work with often establish vast charitable trusts benefiting good causes on a truly under-appreciated scale.

Real-estate trusts own vast swaths of property, and many employee benefit and pension schemes are also trust-based, with the largest pension trusts being worth more than the gross domestic product of some states.