In recent years, the increasing prevalence of ultra-high net-worth individuals (“UNWIs”) in Asia has placed the actions and choices of this new class of financial elites and their affairs in the spotlight. In this chapter, we consider the common structures used in Family Offices and Private Trust Companies (“PTCs”) used by the ultra-wealthy, focusing on the composition of their management. Several family governance issues commonly arise in practice, such as control and management, duties owed by the managers, succession planning, and how to resolve possible conflicts between beneficiaries. These must be evaluated when considering the structures to adopt. In addition, where settlors attempt to retain considerable control over the trusts (for example, through “double hatting”), trust integrity issues may arise, raising risks of trusts being treated as sham or illusory trusts. We propose several solutions to resolve the family governance and trust integrity issues highlighted in this paper, including focusing on the importance of proper administration, succession planning and employing professionals with good trusts experience to assist in management. We will also explore the use of the Singapore Variable Capital Company for family office structuring.

The chapter presents the religious guidance and moral support (irşad in Turkish) that the Diyanet preachers provide to women and families. In line with a redefinition of religious services as a pastoral care designed to enlighten the believer on any aspects of life, the irşad’s activities have been deeply reshaped. This has occurred through old and new institutions that have been put in place. The chapter refers to the fatwa services provided in local mufti offices, as a phone service and via online platform, and to the Family Guidance and Consultation Bureaus established in 2002 with the aim to provide religious counseling to women and families. It also emphasizes how religious officers’ activities are conducted outside the mosques, in prisons, hospitals, orphanages, and women’s shelters. The expansion of the Diyanet’s moral mission is thus characterized by a pervasive moral support that goes beyond the mosques to penetrate and reshape the spaces of the secular.