A long-time, valued friend passed away this year and it has caused me to reframe my practice here in Japan. Tom Reilly of Kobe and I worked together for years in the Kansai Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce In Japan. Tom knew everybody and was particularly close to many regional government figures like the Governor of Hyogo Prefecture and Mayor of Kobe, to name a couple. He is also the person who seemed most able to inveigle me into working for charitable causes.

Tom repeatedly asked me to focus on wills and estate planning, both for expatriates working in Japan and for Japanese nationals. He was one of many expats (he owned an advertising agency) with a Japanese spouse and they raised a family of high achievers. Estate planning for such families requires extra thinking, because many factors are in play, both in terms of tax and asset management.

I always declined, saying that the limited market of prospective clients here could not justify focus on this area. I now clearly understand that Tom had a need for himself and his family. Sadly, his lovely wife Hiroe preceded him in death and it is now too late to help them.

Those events, though, made me reconsider. In fact, I have long had the knowledge and expertise to handle this area, and my residence in Japan has made me follow the peculiarities of estates and investments of such dual nationality families. I realized that, hey, I was specifically trained for that – and that the number of persons who need this help is far greater than I had thought.

Thus I am putting a major focus on offering services to them in the fields of international estate planning, asset management, business succession planning, etc. Many think that all that is needed is a fairly simple will. In rare cases, that may be so. Suppose that you have assets in more than one country, or a family business, or children who want to work or study abroad. What if you have minor children or ones with special medical needs? A proper estate plan package includes at least four or five documents and above all, intelligent advice about how to utilize them. As some of my colleagues say, the documents (will, trusts, powers of attorney) are free. The real investment is in the counseling to make sure that you have chosen the right things to include and that they actually work as intended.

My efforts in this area, and indeed this blog, are dedicated to helping those like Tom Reilly and his family.