International Clients and Foreign-Owned Businesses FAQs

Cross-border estate planning requires careful attention to U.S. and foreign tax law, beneficiary designations that may not work across jurisdictions, FBAR and FATCA reporting requirements for U.S. persons with foreign accounts, and applicable treaty considerations. We coordinate with foreign counsel on these matters so your plan works on both sides of the border.

Yes. Mixed-status families need careful planning because U.S. citizen heirs may have different tax treatment than non-citizen heirs, and non-resident heirs may face withholding on certain U.S. assets. Beneficiary designations and trust structures can be tailored to these realities. This is one of the clearest examples of where our combined immigration and estate practice benefits a family.

Yes. We work with foreign-owned businesses on entity formation, contracts, compliance, and disputes, and we coordinate that work with the immigration side, including investor and employment-based visas for owners, executives, and key personnel. Handling both together avoids the gaps that arise when immigration and business are managed by separate firms.

Yes. We serve international clients and coordinate with foreign counsel when a matter requires expertise in another country’s law. Because immigration is federal, we can assist with U.S. immigration matters regardless of where you are located.

Generally no. Real property is governed by the law of the country where it sits, not where you live or where the will was signed. Foreign land almost always requires a local proceeding and counsel admitted in that country.

In nearly every case, yes. Only local counsel can say whether a US grant can be recognized there, what formalities a will must meet, and whether forced heirship or customary law fixes shares regardless of your wishes.

Often yes, limited expressly to the assets located there. The danger is the standard clause revoking all prior wills. Sign a foreign will containing it after your Texas will and you may have revoked the Texas one, which is the most expensive error in cross border estates.

An FBAR is required if your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 in the aggregate at any point in the year. That is combined across accounts, not per account. Form 8938 may also apply at higher thresholds, and both can be required for the same account.

Generally the inheritance itself is not taxable income. But a US person receiving more than $100,000 in a year from a nonresident alien individual or a foreign estate must report it on Form 3520. The penalty is for failing to report, not for receiving.

No. The unlimited marital deduction requires a US citizen spouse, and a lawful permanent resident spouse is still a noncitizen for this purpose. A qualified domestic trust, or QDOT, preserves the deferral and is far easier to build in advance.

For 2026 the first $194,000 is excluded, and the amount is indexed annually. This matters more than it sounds, because retitling a house into joint names or funding a joint account can be a taxable gift when one spouse is not a citizen.

Potentially a serious one. A decedent who is neither a US citizen nor domiciled here has only a $60,000 exemption for US situated assets, and that figure is not indexed. Real estate and shares of US corporations both count toward it.

It can change it substantially, which is why the immigration file and the estate file should be read together. Timing a naturalization can alter the marital deduction analysis entirely, and pending immigration matters bear on where you are domiciled.