Question:
I am a U.S. citizen and have one adult child who has an English passport. I want to name him sole beneficiary of my estate which includes two single-family homes and money invested in the market. Total assets are approximately $800,000.
Response:
That should not be a problem. You can pass all your estate to your son through a will or a trust just as you would if he were a U.S. citizen living in the United States.
The only issue is that you may want to appoint a U.S. resident to serve as personal representative of your estate and trustee of your trust if you create on. There are two reasons for this. First, it will be easier for them to administer your estate and trust if they’re local, including potentially selling the two homes. Second, some banks and investment firms will not allow a non-U.S. resident to be a signatory on accounts. We’ve run into this problem with investment firms, namely Fidelity, more than with banks.
