Hart & Lloyd is instructed in matters where the true ownership, control, or benefit of assets is in dispute. Where those assets are held through companies, trusts, or multi-layered structures, our role is to cut through that complexity and present findings that courts and legal teams can rely on.

The analysis of complex structures involves four related aspects: structure and governance, influence, financial activity, and benefit. Each is addressed below.

1. Structure and Governance

Financial arrangements frequently involve multiple entities: fixed and discretionary trusts, trading trusts, operating companies, third parties, and groups of related entities, sometimes spanning multiple jurisdictions, including offshore structures. Understanding a structure requires examination of its primary and secondary accounting records and its governing documents: trust deeds, corporate records, shareholder registers, minutes of meetings, and where relevant, communications.

This examination establishes how decisions are made, who holds relevant powers, and how those powers may be exercised. In a discretionary trust, for example, where beneficiaries do not hold a proprietary interest in the trust assets, a power of appointment and removal of the trustee can be highly significant as an indicator of control.

Mapping the group structure is not a static exercise, and the changes that occur over time can be as significant as the current structure itself. Companies are incorporated or deregistered; trust deeds are amended; beneficial interests, ownership, and management may change. Where phoenix activity is suspected, or where structural changes correlate with the commencement of proceedings or another trigger event, the timing and nature of those changes can be particularly revealing.

2. Influence

How decisions are actually made in practice is a separate and often more significant question than who formally holds authority.

A party may hold no recorded decision-making powers, no directorship, no trustee role, yet nonetheless determine how assets are dealt with, how and when distributions are made, and how the structure evolves over time. Formal authority and practical control are not synonymous. Treating the absence of a formal title as evidence of absence of control is a common error in the analysis of these structures. Our work looks past formality to examine who gave instructions, whether those instructions were followed, and what the pattern of conduct reveals about the true relationship between a party and a structure.

This requires consideration of the relationship between the trustee or director and the relevant party, communications between them, and whether the trustee or director consistently acts in accordance with the party's requests. We work alongside digital forensic experts and professional interviewers to obtain further evidence as necessary.

3. Financial Activity

The financial records of each relevant entity are analysed to understand how the structure operates in practice. Bank statements, general ledgers, and supporting records reveal the movement of funds: within the structure, between related entities, and between the structure and individual or external parties. The analysis typically covers distributions and dividends, inter-entity transactions and loan accounts, and the payment of personal or private expenses from entity funds. In each case, the objective is to trace both the source and the application of funds, and to identify flows that may not be apparent from financial statements alone.

4. Benefit

The analysis culminates in an assessment of whether a party derives personal benefit from assets held within the structure. This may take many forms: the use or occupation of property, the discharge of private debts, access to loan funds on non-commercial terms, or the receipt of distributions. Where the benefit is consistent, material, and not reflective of arm's length dealing, it is a significant indicator of the nature of the party's relationship to the structure.

Taken together, these four aspects equip legal counsel and the court with the factual foundation needed to determine the true position.

Instructing Hart & Lloyd

Hart & Lloyd is a forensic accounting practice offering investigation services across financial disputes and litigation. Rigorous financial analysis and clear, court-compliant expert reporting are brought to matters where the true ownership, control, or benefit of assets is in question. Instructing solicitors can expect well-reasoned reports that withstand scrutiny, and a practice that understands both the forensic demands of litigation and the commercial context in which these structures operate.

We are retained across a range of matters including family law property proceedings, fraud and financial misconduct, estate and probate disputes, and broader financial litigation.

If you are dealing with a matter of this nature, we welcome an early confidential discussion.

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