This paper examines the legal framework governing, and the policy questions arising from, the management of wealth within the United States when the settlors or beneficial owners of the assets are citizens and domiciliaries of countries in Asia. Among the topics discussed will be the rules governing the US financial accounts, investments and land owned by non-citizens who are domiciled abroad; the use of the US-based trusts for such overseas settlors and beneficiaries; and the federal income and transfer taxation rules applicable to wealth planning for such overseas clients, with special reference to the People’s Republic of China and its tax treaty with the United States.

High net-worth (and sometimes high-profile) families in Singapore continue to face internal disputes. These disputes sometimes lead to litigation about matters relating to trusts, estates, family companies and, increasingly, mental capacity issues. This paper will discuss some recent developments in Singapore in relation to family wealth disputes. They will particularly consider cases relating to mental capacity, jointly owned property and family businesses and companies.

There is an old Chinese saying - 富不过三代 - Wealth does not pass three generations. Lady Arden’s keynote speech will be a tour d’horizon of some of the problems in trust law, such as those that arise in relation to the right to information, challenges to trustees’ exercise of discretion, informality in trusts and the fallout from settlor-dominated trusts.

This will be a short introduction to the book, establishing its scope and themes, and drawing out the links between the individual papers within each section of the book and between the sections more generally.