Shares In BVI Business Companies - Avoiding A Succession Problem

A great deal of global wealth, particularly wealth in the Asian and MENA regions, is held through British Virgin Islands ("BVI") business companies. Where the shares in a BVI business company are registered in the name of an individual rather than a corporate entity, a question will arise concerning the succession to the shares in the event of the death of the individual. The aims of succession planning are both to provide a reliable answer to this question and to reduce substantially the delay and cost involved in ensuring that effect is given to the individual's wishes, so far as they may be lawfully achieved, concerning succession.

Failure to put appropriate succession plans in place may result in unanticipated or undesired outcomes which will inevitably involve both delay and increased cost in dealing with the shares after death. This, in turn, may have significant and adverse consequences for the commercial life of the company which may, effectively, be put on