Wealth Structuring and Succession Planning in Bogotá
We organise how a family or a group of partners holds its assets: holding companies, Fiducia mercantil, shareholder agreements and generational transfer, with the tax reading of each alternative.
Wealth structuring answers a different question from a tax query: not what gets filed this year, but how the assets are held, who controls them and what happens to them when they change hands or pass to the next generation. We work with business families, with partners and with individuals whose wealth was built across several ventures, and the starting point is always the same: knowing what exists, whose name it is in and which document supports it.
The most frequent reason clients come to us is the mix between the company and the family. An operating business takes on risk every day, and when the family home and the savings sit inside the same company that signs the contracts, a single operational problem can reach all of it. This work is done beforehand: a reorganisation put together once a debt, a lawsuit or an insolvency proceeding is already under way protects nothing and can become an additional problem. When a case arrives late, we say so in writing.
Where we work
- Ownership diagnostic: which assets exist, in whose name and with what support.
- Structures that separate family wealth from the risk of the business.
- Family protocols, shareholder agreements and governance rules.
- Transfer to the next generation and coordination with succession proceedings.
- Estates with assets, companies or heirs outside Colombia.
- Review of company ownership before a sale.
Every decision is analysed with its tax reading on the table, together with our Tax Law practice, and ends in documents signed and filed, not in verbal advice. We do not propose structures whose only purpose is to reduce a tax. When a dispute among partners is already before a judge or an arbitral tribunal, the matter continues in Litigation and Arbitration.
Services within this area
Wealth diagnostic: asset inventory and legal ownership
We build the inventory of your wealth: which assets exist, who holds title, what documents support it and what is exposed to the risk of the business.
Learn more →Family holding company: separating family wealth from business risk
We assess whether a family holding fits your case, which vehicle applies and what moving each asset involves. We incorporate, draft and handle the filings.
Learn more →Family protocol and governance rules for the family business
We put the business family's rules in writing: who may work there, how profits are shared, what happens if someone wants to sell, and how decisions get made.
Learn more →Generational transfer of wealth and succession planning
We document how wealth passes to the next generation, in life or on death, within the limits Colombian law imposes and with the instruments signed and filed.
Learn more →Estates with assets, companies or heirs outside Colombia
We organise estates with property, accounts or companies outside Colombia, or heirs abroad. We define the scope and coordinate with counsel in that country.
Learn more →Tidying up ownership and family assets before selling the company
We review in advance what a buyer will look at: title to the shares, undocumented contributions and family assets sitting inside the company.
Learn more →Frequently asked questions
What is wealth structuring and how does it differ from a tax query? +
It is the work of organising how a family or a group of partners holds its assets: in which vehicles they sit, who controls them and how they are transferred. A tax query answers for one year or one transaction; wealth structuring works on the structure itself, over a horizon of several years. The two practices are coordinated, because every structural decision has tax effects.
Who is this work for? +
For business families that want to separate family assets from the operating risk of the business, for partners about to bring in the next generation or a third party, and for individuals with assets in several jurisdictions. Also for owners preparing the sale of a company who want to understand beforehand how the estate looks after the deal.
What is a fiducia mercantil and when is it used in these structures? +
It is a contract under which a person transfers one or more assets to a trust company so that it administers them or applies them to a defined purpose, for the benefit of the settlor or of a named beneficiary. In wealth structuring it is assessed as one of several possible vehicles, alongside holding companies and shareholder agreements. Which one fits depends on the assets, the family and the obligations each structure creates, and that is decided case by case.
Is this about paying less tax? +
We do not frame the work in those terms. Our role is to explain the tax consequences of each structural alternative before it is executed, so that the decision is an informed one. We do not propose structures whose only purpose is to reduce a tax, and we flag when an alternative creates exposure before the tax authorities.
Ready to protect what you've built?
Every case starts with an honest conversation. Book 30 minutes, no commitment.
Book →