The refugees and the birth of cross-border wealth advice

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The Huguenot exodus created a new demand: for advisers capable of helping dispersed families to manage assets located in several countries. A refugee settled in Geneva might own land in Languedoc, hold claims in Lyon, have shares in a trading house in Amsterdam and relatives in London or Berlin. The transmission of such assets raised questions of succession law, the validity of wills, matrimonial property regimes and the recognition of foreign deeds. The confiscation of the property of fugitives in France added particular difficulties.

To meet these needs, Genevan notaries, jurists and bankers developed an early expertise in international assets. They drafted powers of attorney allowing action at a distance, organised sales and recoveries through correspondents, and advised on the choice of place of residence and on the drafting of wills. They knew the rules of several countries and the practices of their administrations.¹

This expertise is one of the roots of the contemporary practice of cross-border wealth advice, in which Geneva occupies an important place. The international families who today turn to Genevan lawyers, notaries, fiduciaries and wealth managers encounter comparable questions: a plurality of applicable laws, tax coordination, protection of heirs, anticipation of political risks. The instruments have changed; the nature of the service remains.

Notes

Wikipédia (fr), art. “Refuge (protestantisme)”: around 200,000 Huguenots left France, out of some 800,000 Protestants in the kingdom, after the revocation of 1685; the Edict of Fontainebleau prohibited emigration on pain of the galleys for men and of “confiscation of body and goods” for women, which forced the fugitives to cross clandestinely, often with the help of smugglers; the British Isles and the United Provinces formed the “great Ark of the Refuge” for refugees from north-western France, the Swiss cantons receiving those from the Midi, while others went to Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Homburg, Lippe, the Palatinate, Scandinavia, the North American colonies, Suriname, the Cape and Russia. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of September 2025.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Rechtsanwalt/Attorney-at-Law

I am a Swiss attorney-at-law and also admitted as a solicitor in Hong Kong and in England & Wales, with almost 25 years of experience.

Together with my multilingual team, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Ukrainian and French native speakers, I advise companies and their owners from around the world on the full range of banking, corporate, commercial and tax law matters in Switzerland, including international tax planning, fiduciary services, and legal family office services including immigration & relocation or real estate investments. My practice has a particular focus on clients from growth and frontier markets in Greater China, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, and I equally advise clients from Europe and North America. Through an affiliated Swiss trust company, we also take care of the incorporation and ongoing administration of their companies and other structures, including accounting, tax returns and corporate secretarial services, and I serve as a professional director where required. With the support of a network of first-class cooperation partners, I also implement solutions worldwide.

My approach is to act as a trusted advisor who works directly with decision-makers, on an equal footing: I start from what you want to achieve and shape every structure, contract and tax decision around your commercial goals and how it improves your after-tax return. As “lawyers who make it happen”, my team and I stay involved until your company is set up, your structure is in place and your transaction has closed, and we remain available for any follow-on work that may be required. You benefit from bespoke solutions and personal attention, and sound, friendly and practical advice. We are not the lowest-cost provider in the market, nor do we intend to be; our aim is to deliver well-founded, proper solutions and excellent value for money.

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The refugees and the birth of cross-border wealth advice

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