For Advisors

Ashford International Law P.C. concentrates its practice on cross-border issues between Germany and the United States. We welcome co-counsel and referral relationships with domestic and foreign colleagues, and we regularly advise U.S. financial institutions and U.S. fiduciaries — executors, administrators, and trustees — on the German-related aspects of their accounts and estates. We also work alongside a client’s existing U.S. attorney whenever a matter has German assets or German persons involved, handling the German-law and cross-border tax analysis while the referring attorney retains the client relationship, or leading the German-related work end to end if that is preferred.

The firm is led by Caroline Esche Ashford, PhD, JD (Columbia University), an attorney whose practice focuses on international estate planning and the cross-border taxation and administration of estates and trusts holding assets in Germany and the United States. Attorney Ashford is qualified in both jurisdictions: she is admitted as a Rechtsanwältin in Germany and a member of the Munich bar, and as an attorney in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. She advises in English, German, and French, and has seventeen years of experience in cross-border private client matters. We are glad to work alongside a family’s existing advisers, a fiduciary’s own counsel, or a client’s U.S. attorney, or to handle the German-related components of a matter end to end.

Examples of What We Handle

  • Resident and nonresident U.S. estate and gift tax as it applies to German persons and German-situs interests: situs analysis, the $60,000 exemption, relief under the German-American estate and gift tax treaty, Form 706-NA, and transfer certificates
  • Ancillary probate and administration of U.S. assets for German estates, heirs, executors, and fiduciaries
  • German forced-heirship (Pflichtteil) claims and the German marital property regime (Zugewinngemeinschaft), and how each interacts with a U.S. estate plan or a U.S. fiduciary’s duties
  • The German inheritance and gift tax (Erbschaft- und Schenkungsteuer), read alongside the U.S. estate and gift tax, to identify double-taxation relief available under the treaty
  • Distributions to German beneficiaries: withholding, Forms 1042 and 1042-S, Schedule K-1, W-8BEN documentation, and fiduciary and transferee liability
  • U.S. compliance and remediation for German-connected accounts and entities: FBAR, Forms 8938, 3520, and 3520-A, FATCA classification under the U.S.-Germany intergovernmental agreement, and delinquent filings
  • U.S. real estate and securities held by German residents, including FIRPTA on the sale of U.S. real property and the PFIC treatment of inherited or held fund interests

For U.S. Financial Institutions

We advise banks, trust companies, and broker-dealers on the German-related questions that arise whenever an account holder, beneficiary, or counterparty is in Germany:

  • Withholding and treaty-rate determinations under the U.S.-Germany income tax treaty, including the documentation an institution must hold to support a reduced rate
  • Forms 1042, 1042-S, and W-8BEN/W-8BEN-E for payments and distributions to German owners and beneficiaries
  • FATCA classification under the U.S.-Germany intergovernmental agreement, including registration and reporting for estates, trusts, and family entities with German connections
  • Transfer certificates (IRS Form 5173) and the situs analysis that determines whether a given U.S. holding requires one before release to a German estate or heir
  • Standing counsel arrangements for institutions whose books of business include German-connected accounts, and file reviews correcting unaddressed withholding, documentation, or reporting exposure

For U.S. Fiduciaries

We advise executors, administrators, and trustees handling estates and trusts with a German dimension:

  • Ancillary probate and administration of U.S. assets for German heirs and beneficiaries, including coordination with the German probate court (Nachlassgericht) and, where relevant, a German notary
  • Advising on German forced-heirship claims and the German marital property regime where they bear on a U.S. fiduciary’s duties or a distribution plan
  • The German inheritance and gift tax alongside the U.S. estate tax, to avoid double taxation and identify the relief the treaty makes available
  • Distributions to German beneficiaries: the withholding analysis, Form 1042-S versus Schedule K-1 reporting, and the documentation a fiduciary needs before a distribution is released
  • Transfer certificates and the fiduciary-liability protections (including 31 U.S.C. §3713 and IRC §6324 exposure) that matter when assets or beneficiaries are in Germany
  • Trusts with a German settlor or beneficiary: how German law treats a trust it does not itself recognize, and the reporting a U.S. trustee owes while the settlor or beneficiary is in Germany

Working with a Client’s U.S. Attorney

Where a client’s own attorney is not admitted in Germany, or a matter’s German assets or German-resident parties fall outside that attorney’s usual practice, we step in as co-counsel or coordinating counsel on the German-related components: situs and treaty analysis, German tax exposure, forced-heirship and marital-property questions, and coordination with German counsel and authorities where needed. The client’s U.S. attorney continues to lead the relationship and the balance of the matter.