Art and cultural property
Forsters’ Art and cultural property team has real breadth of experience, advising individuals, institutions and trustees in both UK and international art markets. Our clients include international collectors, auction houses, dealers, galleries, museums, charities and living contemporary artists seeking to establish structures to safeguard their artistic legacies and provide for their families. We also act for many families and trustees owning art collections and chattels of national importance.
Our team works closely with a wide range of industry specialists including valuers, curators, collection management and logistics experts, fine art agents and institutions. We are uniquely placed to advise on the practical and tax implications of creating, buying, selling and holding works of art as well as resolving any disputes that arise.
Who we help:
Artists and their estates
Our specialist team regularly advises living artists on the competing aims of safeguarding their artistic legacies and making provision for their families.
We take the time to ensure we understand what motivates each artist and their family dynamic. We advise on business structuring and contractual matters, including consignment and representation agreements, lending artwork and negotiating terms for exhibitions, both in the UK and internationally. We establish companies, partnerships, foundations and draft wills. We provide full service estate planning, including comprehensive advice on taxation and succession matters.
We want artists to benefit from high quality advice and professional advisers. Forsters regularly collaborates with Artistate, the legacy planning organisation, to build teams of professionals (lawyers, accountants, curators and archivists) that support our artist clients.
Collectors
When collectors acquire works (either by purchase, gift, or inheritance), we advise on transferring title, taxation and succession planning and source advice on valuation, authentication and provenance. We are on hand for ongoing advice for those managing the work, connecting them with specialists in the sector in collection management, curation, logistics, insurance and future acquisitions and sales. Our team draws on our business’s award winning expertise in estate planning, family governance and taxation to advise our collector clients and ensure a smooth transition to the next generation.
Dealers and private galleries
Our cross-departmental team provides specialist advice to dealers and private galleries, assisting with contracts for sale, artists’ representation agreements, consignment agreements and employment contracts. Specialists in our real estate teams are attuned to the requirements of galleries and dealers and are on hand to give practical, commercial advice on the terms of tenancy agreements for those looking to rent new spaces or renew their current leases. We are regularly instructed to assist with disputes, including those concerning authenticity, title, and breach of contract.
Great houses, museums and charities
We advise the owners of many pre-eminent national collections, often with a focus on addressing inheritance tax liabilities through the acceptance in lieu and cultural gifts schemes. We also advise on offers in lieu in situ; cases in which a piece or a collection used to settle tax is lent back to the taxpayer so as to remain on public display at the family home.
We work with families to form trusts or private charities to hold significant collections, or to raise funds to maintain objects and buildings of national importance. We often collaborate with advisers in other jurisdictions to create sister charities, enabling the trustees to fundraise in the US and elsewhere.
Auction houses
Our team regularly works with auction houses, investing time to understand the practical and legal issues that these institutions face. Our involvement includes advice to the business vehicles themselves (taxation and structuring) and the underlying auction transactions (terms and conditions and contractual issues).
We have expertise in the digital world of online sales, helping clients to reframe their terms and conditions. We have in-house experts in crypto transactions and extensive experience of UK and international contractual disputes that arise both in court and in arbitration proceedings.
