A love story that has been going for almost one and a half centuries…

It began by the famous visit by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the fascination with the shores of the Mediterranean aroused in her entourage. The holiday resorts of the Russian aristocracy were to quickly shape the urban landscape of the Côte d’Azur, and the arrival of this new clientele, enamored of art and culture, spurred the growth of tourism and of the economy in the region.

Over the past thirty years, business leaders and wealthy artists have replaced the aristocrats of old, buying superb second homes, and emigrating or relocating in Monaco for personal or professional reasons.
On the strength of its expertise in these areas, Gordon S. Blair routinely works on real estate projects and projects to emigrate or relocate to Monaco for clients from Russia, countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) or Eastern European countries.

In order to facilitate exchanges and to understand the specific needs of its clients, the firm has retained seasoned legal and tax advisors from these countries (including from Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Bulgaria), to facilitate clients’ access to our full range of services and expertise (succession, tax, yachting, business law, etc.).

We also provide legal and tax monitoring of developments in the countries of origin of our clients and closely coordinate with their advisors in these countries.

We are thus able to provide our clients and their advisors with all the information they need to meet their reporting obligations in their country of residence, particularly regarding the holding of real estate assets (e.g., CFC – Controlled Foreign Companies) or bank account holdings (e.g., CRS – Common Reporting Standards).

Lastly, considering the sensitivity of the Monegasque or French administrations and banks in the countries of origin of these persons and/or where they have interests, we assist our clients in reporting and documenting their profile information to the authorities, regulators, and bank compliance officers.