I am in the process of spending a pretty large sum in the Philippines to buy a house and was obviously concerned about the situation. I cannot hold title on the land, but can on the house, but this is a useless arrangement if anything happened to our marriage or my wife pre-deceased me, when the wife's family would inherit and not me. I briefed an attorney to find a solution which he has done. It requires the establishment of a Filipino company in which I hold only 40% of the issued share capital, the remaining 60% being split between 4 Philippine residents (not necessarily Filipinos, they can be British) who each hold a nototional 15%. These share holders all give me an irrevocable authority to act for them at board meetings, so in effect I control the company which owns then owns the house. The only questions yet to be answered are if this produces any tax implications.
