Overview
Ashmont Pinnacle Advisory is an advisory and project management firm based in the United Arab Emirates. We advise families and companies on which structures should hold their assets and their businesses, and on how to run them across more than one country.
Most of the difficulty in an international group is not in any one country. It is in the space between them: a structure that made sense when it was set up and no longer matches how the business runs, a project that stops each time it crosses a border, records that exist in four places and agree in none.
That space is our work. We advise on how the companies and the family's assets are held and how they report to one another, plan and run the projects, and keep the governance and the records current as the work happens, rather than assembled afterwards when somebody asks for them. Investment, tax and legal advice, and each set-up, come from licensed advisers and providers we bring in and coordinate.
Core expertise
Family office and family holding structures
Which structures should hold a family's assets: a family office company, a foundation, a holding company, or a combination. We compare DIFC, ADGM and the other UAE options for the family's situation and explain how corporate tax applies to each, then bring in the licensed lawyers, tax advisers and registrars who confirm the position and carry out the set-up.
Corporate and group structuring across borders
Where each company sits, what it holds, and how ownership and reporting run between them, including across more than one country. We identify which questions matter in each place, bring in the right local specialist, and make their answers work together, so the structure on paper matches how the business runs.
Governance and substance
Who decides what, what gets minuted, and where the records are kept, built as the work happens. When a bank, an auditor or a registrar asks, the evidence is already there.
Strategic project management
Planning and oversight of projects that cross companies, countries and currencies, with accountability from the start through to completion and a written record of every decision taken.
How we work
- 01
We start with where you stand
The people, the companies, the countries involved, and the decisions still open.
- 02
We set out the options in writing
A written comparison with costs, timelines and tax position for each option, so you make the decision on paper.
- 03
We stay involved until it runs
We introduce the licensed providers who carry out each step, and we stay involved until the structure is set up and running.
Software
Ledgard
ledgard.appTurns a property listing into a clear report from officially registered records: what the property has sold and rented for, what it will cost to own and to sell, and what a buyer must verify before committing.
Lodeward
lodeward.appRuns several versions of the same advert at once and tells a property firm which of them produced the viewing, not merely the enquiry, then moves the budget week by week towards the ones buyers respond to.
Cardward
cardward.appA digital business card that lives at its owner's own web address, with no account to create, nothing to install and no prompts to skip, so it opens in one tap, saves straight to a phone and can still be printed.
Turnward
turnward.appFor hosts letting on Airbnb and Booking.com: the cleaner receives tomorrow's list at six the evening before, in their own language, with the same-day arrivals placed first and each flat marked done in one tap.
Deckward
deckward.appTurns everything a developer sends, the brochures, the films and the notes, into one professional project page a salesperson can send. The price, the size, the payment plan, the handover date, the films, and the brochures, so nothing has to be downloaded or stored.
Why the UAE
Families are setting up their structures in Dubai. DIFC alone is now home to 1,408 family-related entities, more than twice as many as at the end of 2023.
- TaxNo personal income, capital gains or inheritance tax for individuals.
- Law and courtsDIFC and ADGM apply common law in English, with their own courts.
- ResidenceTen-year Golden Visas that cover the whole family.
- LocationBetween Europe, Asia and Africa, in one time zone that works for all three.
Family-related entities in DIFC
Foundations set up by DIFC families
See the figures
| Date | Family-related entities | Foundations |
|---|---|---|
| End 2023 | about 600 | not published |
| End 2024 | more than 800 | 671 |
| End 2025 | 1,289 | 1,115 |
| June 2026 | 1,408 | 1,409 |
Source: DIFC annual results for 2024 and 2025, and DIFC results for the first half of 2026. Year-on-year changes are as published by DIFC.
Insights
See all insights
DIFC · October 2026
Families in DIFC:
the first half of 2026
Family-related entities up 36% and foundations up 67% in a year. What the figures say about how families are structuring.
Read
ADGM · October 2026
ADGM in
the first half of 2026
Assets under management up 54% and almost 14,000 active licences. What the growth means for a family choosing Abu Dhabi.
Read
Family offices · October 2026
DIFC or ADGM for
a single family office
The asset thresholds, the government fees and the legal system in each centre, side by side, and how a family decides between the two.
ReadOur property dataLedgard, our property intelligence platform, draws on ten official Dubai registers and more than twenty-five years of registered sales to produce independent analytics and reports on any unit, building, area or developer, in English and Chinese, for buyers, advisers and institutions.
Visit ledgard.appA structure the next generation can run.
Which centre fits your family?
Choose the family's total net assets, including property and businesses abroad.
Not a family office yet
Neither DIFC nor ADGM accepts a single family office below USD 10 million. A family foundation or a holding company can still hold and organise the family's assets, and we can advise on that.
ADGM, Abu Dhabi
ADGM accepts a single family office from USD 10 million in family net assets. DIFC requires USD 50 million, so ADGM is the centre open to your family.
ADGM or DIFC
Both centres are open to your family. The choice turns on cost, where the family and its advisers are based, and the banks the family already uses.
Frequently asked questions
What is a single family office?
A company that manages the wealth of one family. In DIFC and ADGM it has its own rules, and a family office that serves only its own family does not need a financial services licence. It usually sits alongside a family foundation that owns the assets, while the family office runs them.
Do we need USD 10 million or USD 50 million?
It depends on the centre. ADGM accepts a single family office from USD 10 million in total family net assets, and DIFC from USD 50 million. The test is the family's wealth, including property and businesses abroad. No money has to be put into the family office itself.
Is the income really taxed at 0%?
It can be, under conditions. A family foundation approved as tax transparent by the Federal Tax Authority pays no corporate tax, and its income is treated as the family's own. The family office company pays 0% only if it qualifies as a free zone person under regulatory oversight; otherwise it pays 9% on profit above AED 375,000. Assets abroad are still taxed where they are. Each family should confirm its own position with a tax adviser.
Can my children abroad benefit?
Yes. The structure stays at 0% in the UAE wherever the children live. A child who lives abroad is taxed in that country on what they actually receive, so payments to them are planned. They should not sit on the foundation council or run the family office from abroad, because that can bring the whole structure into their country's tax net.
How long does it take?
About three months from the family's decision to the first purchase. Approval and incorporation take three to twelve weeks; most delay comes from evidencing assets and family relationships, and bank accounts usually take longer than the registration itself.
What does the family need to prepare?
Passports and proof of address for the founders, directors and beneficiaries; a family tree with birth and marriage certificates; statements and title deeds proving the family's net assets; a short account of how the wealth was created; and the main rules for the foundation charter.
How do family offices usually hold property?
Most hold it directly, from apartments to whole buildings, usually through a holding company or a foundation, and many add private funds, REIT units and co-investments with other families. In its 2026 survey, UBS found that family offices plan to hold 8% of their portfolios in real estate, down from 11% in 2025. Which entity holds each property, and where, decides how it is managed and how it passes to the next generation.
What is the difference between a property fund and a REIT?
A private property fund pools money from several investors to buy and run properties. It is not listed, and money can usually be withdrawn only at set dates or when the fund ends. A REIT is listed on a stock exchange, so its units can be sold on any trading day, but its price moves with the market. In both, managers run the buildings and investors have no say in how they are run. Our glossary explains these and other terms.
Official sources
Guides
Family offices in the UAE
A guide for families and their advisers: why the UAE, DIFC or ADGM, corporate tax, foundations, and the steps and costs involved.
Contact
We work with families in the United Arab Emirates and with clients in Romania, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain, and take on a small number of engagements at a time.
Write to us, telephone +971 58 600 4911, or send a message here. You can also follow us on LinkedIn.