American Summer at Citywealth: Miami and Latin American Wealth, From Jet-Set Playground to Planning Base
Miami has long been a city where Latin American wealth comes to play. For decades, rich families from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and across the wider region have bought homes, kept accounts, educated children and spent holidays in South Florida. It offered proximity, language, climate, private schools, luxury property and a social scene that made business and lifestyle hard to separate.
That part is not new. What is changing is the depth of the commitment.
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For many families, Miami is no longer only a place to visit, shop, party or hold a second home. It is becoming part of a longer-term calculation about residence, succession, family governance, tax exposure and where the next generation may ultimately live.
Parker Taylor, partner at Katten, describes the change in South Florida: “South Florida historically has been known as the land of the snowbird and early bird. Once a winter retreat for Northerners and a haven for retirees, South Florida later grew into the gateway to Latin America. Now, post-COVID, the region has become an even greater mecca for wealth, including, more than ever, inbound domestic wealth from high-taxing states. Miami’s cost of living has exceeded that of New York City, and Palm Beach County’s average age has levelled off after climbing steadily for several years. No longer are transplants limited to the golden-agers; rather, young, successful finance professionals, hedge fund and private equity managers, and tech founders are relocating in droves. Although Florida historically has been known as a boom and bust state, this surge seems here to stay.”
He adds: “States and cities that have pondered imposing or have levied taxes against billionaires or expensive pied-a-terre residences have seen wealthy residents move to South Florida. Forbes-list billionaires have spent billions of dollars on residential real estate throughout South Florida to establish domicile, and a few have even gone all-in on developing cities into desirable business, entertainment, and residential meccas.”
“Florida long has been a favorable state for the wealthy. With no income tax or estate tax, it is a very advantageous jurisdiction in which to reside. There are even measures on the November 2026 ballot to reduce or phase out property taxes for Florida residences. Furthermore, with homestead protections for domiciliaries and a sophisticated trust code, South Florida offers great creditor protection and estate planning options for its residents.”
Taylor says. “Despite many skeptics, it undoubtedly appears that the investment and mass migration to Florida are here to stay.”
However despite the rush to Florida and proposed increased taxes in places like New York City which led one wealth manager to suggest renting in Chicago rather than buying, Joshua Rubenstein, Global Chair, Private Wealth at Katten, New York said. “Paying rent for a luxury apartment sounds like an awfully expensive work around to avoid paying a pied a terre surcharge of only 4% or so. And rent is wasted money, unlike owning an apartment or home that appreciates in value. I don’t think the pied a terre surcharge is intended to make up for New Yorkers who have moved. I think it is intended to replicate the revenues that New York City receives from owners of luxury apartments who actually live in New York and support the City’s economy by spending here. In any event, yesterday a state court issued a temporary injunction against enforcing the tax. We will see where it goes.”
Never the less, the wealth migration story is also increasingly visible in the names around Miami. Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady’s family office has taken 8,415 square feet at The Well Bay Harbor Islands, roughly a mile from his home on Indian Creek. Brady’s business interests span media, wellness and consumer brands: he co-founded Religion of Sports and in 2024 merged his TB12 wellness business and Brady apparel brand into NOBULL, becoming its second-largest shareholder. His investment portfolio also extends into professional sport, including stakes in the Las Vegas Raiders and Las Vegas Aces, Birmingham City FC and Major League Pickleball’s Las Vegas Night Owls.
The city has also been reshaped by football/soccer. Lionel Messi is listed by Inter Miami CF as the club’s number 10 forward and captain, giving Miami a sporting profile that now reaches far beyond American audiences. David Beckham’s Inter Miami project, the Formula One Miami Grand Prix, Art Basel Miami Beach and the arrival of major financial and investment firms have all helped turn the wider Miami area into a place where celebrity, sport, lifestyle and investment increasingly overlap.
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For Latin American families, that matters. Miami does not behave like Geneva, Zurich or London. In Miami, the private bank, the football stadium, the waterfront home, the school, the family office and the restaurant table may all sit inside the same inter connected world.
But behind the lifestyle story, advisers are seeing a more serious planning shift.
Luciana Guaspari de Orleans e Bragança, head of wealth planning at Santander in Brazil, says the move by Brazilian families into Florida is no longer only about lifestyle.
“From my perspective, one of the most relevant themes among Brazilian families relocating to Florida is that the move is no longer driven solely by lifestyle considerations. It is increasingly part of a broader wealth preservation, succession, and international planning strategy.
“Some topics that I believe are particularly relevant Among the issues becoming increasingly important for Brazilian families moving to the United States is pre-immigration planning. Families are seeking advice before becoming U.S. tax residents to assess how their global assets should be held and whether existing ownership structures remain appropriate. This often goes hand in hand with cross-border succession and estate planning, particularly for families whose assets span several jurisdictions and who need to reconcile Brazilian inheritance rules with U.S. estate and gift tax considerations. Existing offshore structures are also coming under closer scrutiny, as arrangements established years ago may no longer reflect a family’s tax, regulatory or succession objectives following a move to the United States.”
“The shift is about more than tax and structuring. As families become increasingly dispersed across countries, there is growing interest in family governance, family constitutions and preparing the next generation to manage wealth across borders. Florida real estate remains a priority, but families are paying closer attention to how property is owned, including the succession and asset protection implications. At the same time, philanthropy and legacy planning are becoming a more prominent part of the conversation, particularly for families looking to establish a long-term legacy while giving younger generations a meaningful role in shared family projects.”
“More broadly, I believe the key trend is the transition from purely tax-driven planning toward integrated wealth planning that combines tax, succession, governance, asset protection, and family objectives across multiple jurisdictions.”
The important phrase is ‘before becoming U.S. tax residents’. For wealthy families, moving to the United States is not like buying another apartment. Once someone becomes a US tax resident, the US tax system can reach worldwide income and bring extensive reporting obligations. That means the most valuable planning may happen before the move, not after it.
This is why old offshore structures are being reviewed. For years, Brazilian and other Latin American families used offshore companies, trusts and investment vehicles in jurisdictions such as BVI, Cayman, the Bahamas and Panama. Some of those structures were designed for a world in which the family remained primarily outside the US. That becomes more difficult when children, beneficiaries or founders spend enough time in America to become US taxpayers.
Brazil has also changed the equation. Law 14.754, signed in December 2023, deals with the taxation of income earned by Brazilian-resident individuals through foreign financial investments, controlled entities and trusts abroad. The law is part of the reason old offshore structures are now being reconsidered, particularly by families whose planning once relied on offshore deferral.
That does not mean Cayman, BVI or the Channel Islands disappear. They will continue to have roles in funds, institutional structures and estate planning. But the automatic use looks less compelling for some Brazilian families where the ultimate planning direction points towards the US.
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At the same time, the US became slightly less burdensome in one respect. In March 2025, FinCEN issued an interim final rule removing the requirement for US-formed companies and US persons to report beneficial ownership information under the Corporate Transparency Act. The revised rule narrows reporting company status largely to foreign entities registered to do business in a US state or tribal jurisdiction.
Corporate Transparency Act Compliance – Shifting Landscape
Adam von Poblitz, Partner and Chair Family Office at Akerman LLC in Miami said.
“The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) originally required most U.S. companies to disclose their true owners to the federal government. In March 2025, the government dramatically scaled back the rule: U.S.-formed companies are now exempt, and only foreign companies registered to do business in the United States must report. For Latin American families, this means their domestic LLCs and corporations no longer face this filing obligation, though foreign holding entities still do. The law itself has not been repealed, so the requirement could return, as such advisors are recommending that clients keep ownership records up to date in the meantime.”
That does not restore old-style secrecy. Banks still run KYC and anti-money laundering checks. Tax authorities and courts can still obtain information. But for families using Delaware, Florida, Wyoming or Nevada LLCs for US assets, the change removes one federal filing obligation at a time when Brazilian families are already reviewing whether US vehicles make more sense than some legacy offshore companies.
One result is growing interest in US trust structures.
Private Trust Companies
von Poblitz adds:
“Larger family offices and ultra-high-net-worth families are exploring private trust companies as a means of maintaining family governance and control over trust administration while still achieving the tax and asset protection benefits of irrevocable trust structures.”
Private trust companies are not for everyone. They sit at the larger, more institutional end of the family office market. But they reflect the direction of travel: families want more formal, durable structures, while still retaining influence over questions such as distributions, succession, beneficiaries and the family’s own governance culture.
Julie Neitzel, partner at Miami-based WE Family Offices, made a similar point from another angle. In a discussion on trusts and investment strategies, she described the way traditional trust structures are being stretched by modern family lives and modern asset classes. Trusts that were designed around simpler portfolios now have to contend with private companies, real estate, digital assets, global family members and shifting tax residence.
Neitzel said:
“Trusts were very simple decades ago. Your investment options were stocks, bonds for the most part.”
She also observed:
“Families are becoming more global.”
And for families trying to understand what they own and how it is governed, she said:
“You have to have a map to understand where you’re going.”
That is a useful way to understand the Miami-LatAm corridor. Families are not simply moving money. They are trying to map lives that may include São Paulo, Mexico City, Bogotá, Madrid, London, New York, Palm Beach and Miami.
In that context, dynasty trusts and directed trusts become part of the architecture. Advisers report growing interest in trusts established in states such as Delaware, South Dakota, Nevada and Wyoming, where long trust durations, asset protection and directed trust laws can help families hold wealth over several generations. These structures are especially relevant where families have US assets, US beneficiaries or family members who may become US residents.
The caveat is that home-country rules do not disappear. Brazilian, Mexican and other national tax and succession systems may still matter, depending on where the settlor, beneficiaries and assets are located. A US trust does not automatically override Brazilian tax rules or civil-law inheritance concepts. That is why the practical work is increasingly coordinated between US lawyers, Brazilian advisers, tax specialists, trustees and family offices.
A second theme is real estate.
Florida property remains one of the visible entry points. But even here, the planning conversation is changing. Guaspari’s point about “real estate ownership planning” matters because a Miami apartment or waterfront home may now carry succession, tax and asset protection implications, not just lifestyle value.
The same shift can be seen at an institutional level. Votorantim, controlled by the Ermírio de Moraes family, has been building its US real estate exposure through Altre. News reports said Altre had about $200 million invested in US real estate and plans to expand US real estate assets towards nearly $1 billion within five years. The US represented 20% of Altre’s portfolio, with a goal to increase that share to 50%.
That example is not about a family moving to Miami for lifestyle. It is about strategic diversification: reducing concentration in Brazil, adding dollar exposure and buying into a large, liquid market.
Nina Heindel Baumbach, Senior Manager, Tax Services of RSM US captured the broader mentality in a discussion of Latin American wealth planning:
“If there’s something that Latin Americans know how to deal with, it’s never-ending crisis.”
She continued that Latin American families tend to think in “what if” scenarios because they have lived through political cycles, currency volatility and institutional uncertainty. That is why the “Plan B” discussion is not new. What is changing is the range of places being considered.
One of the more interesting alternatives is Uruguay.
Baumbach noted:
“We’re also seeing recently, couple years now, a plan B being Uruguay, where, you have a beneficial tax regime, you have stability, and it’s close to home. It’s close to the parents.”
Uruguay matters because it is not a distant offshore centre. For Brazilian families, it offers proximity, stability and a familiar regional setting. It can sit alongside Miami, not necessarily replace it.
Security is another point that makes the Latin American story different from a generic wealth migration article. Neitzel raised it directly:
“I have clients that have been kidnapped.”
That single line explains why wealth preservation for some families is not only about tax rates or trusts. It can also be about where information is kept, who has access to records, where family office functions are performed and how exposed family members feel in their home country.
The same point now applies digitally.
Baumbach described cybersecurity in Brazil as: “an immense issue.”
She said even major Brazilian financial institutions can be victims and linked the problem to a country that is highly advanced in digital banking and payments. Families are responding with additional transaction controls, callback procedures, restricted payment channels and verification steps. These are no longer simply banking operations. They are part of wealth protection.
von Poblitz also points to another challenge that is beginning to feature in estate planning:
Digital Assets and Estate Planning
“There is increasing attention to incorporating digital assets (including cryptocurrency) into comprehensive estate plans, including addressing custody, access, and fiduciary authority over these assets.”
This sits naturally with the trust discussion. Families may now own crypto, digital wallets, online accounts, private keys and other assets that are difficult for trustees or heirs to access if the owner dies or loses capacity. It is not glamorous, but it is practical, and increasingly relevant.
The glamour comes elsewhere.
Sport is becoming one of the more visible places where wealth, lifestyle and investment meet. Brady’s post-playing career is one example: family office, wellness, media, sport and ownership sitting in the Miami ecosystem. Data from Inter Miami confirms Messi’s position at the club, and his arrival has helped make Miami a global football city rather than only a US sports market.
The sport story also connects back to Latin America. Brazilian football changed structurally when Law 14.193 of 2021 created the Sociedade Anônima do Futebol, or SAF, a company structure for professional football clubs covering governance, financing, control, transparency and debt treatment. The law helped make Brazilian clubs more investable assets, with football ownership increasingly seen as a mix of passion, status, diversification and potential return.
Mexico is also attracting international capital. General Atlantic announced a strategic partnership with Ollamani through a new entity owning Club América, Estadio Banorte and adjacent real estate, with General Atlantic holding a 49% stake and Ollamani retaining 51%. The partnership also involved Kraft Analytics Group to support fan experience and data strategy.
This is not the old ‘sportswashing’ model of ownership. In Latin America it is more often private capital, family money or business groups looking at football as a cultural asset and alternative investment.
For Miami, that matters because the city is now a stage where these worlds meet: Latin American wealth, US tax planning, football/soccer, family offices, celebrity, real estate and succession. The result is a more layered story than the old image of Miami as a beach city for visiting wealth.
It is still that. The restaurants, yachts, private clubs, waterfront towers and celebrity homes remain part of the appeal. But for many Brazilian and wider Latin American families, Miami is increasingly where lifestyle decisions become legal, tax and succession decisions.
The old Miami was a gateway.
The new Miami is still a gateway, but also a test of permanence. Families that once came for winter, school holidays or a second home are now asking harder questions: where will the children live, what happens if they become US taxpayers, which structures still work, where should decision-making sit, how exposed is the family to security threats, questions from the nextgen on governance and philanthropy and whether existing offshore arrangements still make sense.
That does not make Miami less glamorous. It makes it more important.
The city’s next chapter with Latin American wealth may not be written only in condos, clubs and celebrity sightings. It may be written in trust documents, family offices, football investments, cybersecurity procedures and the quiet decisions families make before a temporary base becomes home.
Key Takeaways
- Miami shifts from a seasonal playground to a permanent base for Latin American families, reflecting deeper commitments to residency and governance.
- Wealth migration includes a focus on tax, estate planning, and security, with families actively reassessing existing structures before becoming U.S. tax residents.
- Investment in Florida real estate is strategic, driven by diversification and concerns over political and economic stability in Latin America.
- The emergence of private trust companies reflects families’ desire for governance and control while navigating complex family dynamics and assets.
- Miami’s new identity connects wealth, lifestyle, and planning, transforming it into a hub of serious financial and legal considerations for Latin American families.
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