Moving to Monaco from the UK: Wealth, Tax & Private Client Guide 2026 | Citywealth
Byline: Karen Jones, founder of Citywealth, has more than 20 years’ experience in global private wealth.
Why are wealthy Britons moving to Monaco?
British residents in Monaco increased 5.6% in 2025, compared with 1.1% growth in Monaco’s population overall. Interest has increased following changes to the UK’s tax regime, including the abolition of the non-dom regime in April 2025. But moving to Monaco affects far more than income tax: residency, inheritance, trusts, companies, property and succession planning can all require reconsideration.The Monaco Yacht Show also returns this month with 120 superyachts expected in Port Hercule. Beyond the harbour, Monaco’s British population is growing faster than its population overall, while changes to property ownership, succession and wealth planning are reshaping the private client landscape.
See the Citywealth Leaders List Top 30 Monaco Advisors and Managers 2026
The annual Monaco Yacht Show returns from 23 to 26 September for its 35th edition, with fleets including yachts from Lürssen, Damen Yachting, Sanlorenzo, Benetti and Ferretti Group brands, alongside vessels presented by leading brokers for sale or charter. Of the 120 yachts due at the show, 43 are new yachts launched this year and being shown to visitors, giving prospective buyers a chance to see some of the latest work from the world’s leading shipyards.
Among them is Sanlorenzo’s 73.4 metre Silver Fox, part of a strong Italian presence at this year’s show. Italian builders account for 52% of superyacht projects currently ordered or under construction worldwide, with Sanlorenzo, Azimut Benetti and Ferretti Group brands among the leading producers.
Recently refitted yachts will sit alongside new launches, while sailing yachts remain part of the picture too, following the renewed interest Citywealth identified last year. Seven are expected in Monaco, including Nautor Swan’s 38.98 metre Raijin. There will also be four multihulls, usually catamarans built on two hulls rather than one, including new yachts from Sunreef and Lagoon.
Toby Joy, Partner at global law firm HFW, says the show also provides a useful indication of conditions at the top end of the global yacht market: “The Monaco Yacht Show is always an excellent opportunity to take the pulse of the global superyacht market. At the top end, the market is often driven by scarcity of supply, given the limited number of shipyards capable of building and delivering large superyachts and the lengthy lead times involved. While some yards have reported more challenging trading conditions during 2026 (likely due to the geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East), we are continuing to see healthy levels of activity, particularly in the brokerage market, as buyers seek opportunities to acquire quality vessels without waiting for a new-build slot.”
Joy said. “It is very easy to get swept away by the excitement of purchasing a yacht without first taking advice on matters such as flag selection, which will determine the regulatory regime applicable to the yacht, considering whether the vessel will be operated privately or chartered, establishing an appropriate ownership structure, in light of increasing beneficial ownership transparency requirements and confirming the yacht’s VAT status. Buyers should also ensure that experienced technical advisers are engaged to oversee the survey process and that appropriate crew and management arrangements are considered at an early stage. In our experience, the most successful yacht acquisitions are those where legal, technical and operational considerations are addressed long before completion.”
For private client advisers, however, the yacht itself is only part of the transaction. Peter Brigham, who heads Rosemont Monaco and its yacht services business, points to the increasingly complicated structures behind major yacht ownership. “The appropriate arrangement will depend on where the owner lives, their nationality, whether the yacht is for private use or charter, its financing, VAT position and flag, and how it fits into the family’s wider wealth and succession planning.”
Those questions become more important when a yacht is held through a company, trust or family structure. A change of residence can affect an existing arrangement, while succession raises further questions about who controls, inherits or eventually sells the asset. Monaco has an unusual advantage because its private banks, trustees, lawyers and wealth advisers operate alongside one of the world’s most established superyacht industries.
More Britons choose Monaco
The number of British residents in Monaco rose from 2,918 in 2024 to 3,081 in 2025, an increase of 163 people, or 5.6%. Monaco’s resident population as a whole grew by 1.1%, meaning the British community expanded at a considerably faster rate. Britons now account for 7.9% of Monaco’s resident population.
The movement from Britain is wider than the nationality figures suggest. Among adults who moved to Monaco between 2023 and 2025 and were still resident at the end of 2025, 18.9% had come from the UK. That includes people of other nationalities who had previously been living in Britain.
Some of the moves have been high profile. British billionaire property investors Ian and Richard Livingstone, whose interests include the Fairmont Monte Carlo, changed their usual residence from the UK to Monaco. Guillaume Pousaz, the Swiss billionaire founder of Checkout.com, also changed his residence from the UK to Monaco. Pousaz is a useful example of why the British nationality figures do not capture all the wealth moving from Britain.
Peter Brigham says Rosemont is seeing a broader movement than the widely predicted departure of former UK non doms. “Our experience is that they are not only non-doms leaving the UK. Many are UK doms.”
That distinction is significant. The UK abolished the non dom regime in April 2025, but moving country can affect much more than annual taxation. Companies, trusts, investments, property, yachts and aircraft may have been structured around the family’s previous residence, while wills, inheritance planning and gifts may also need to be reviewed. For families whose assets and relatives span several countries, relocation can prompt a much wider reconsideration of how their wealth is organised.
Francesco Grosoli, CEO of CMB Monaco and a private banker with more than 30 years of experience, has formerly noted increased interest in Monaco from wealthy British clients as changes to the UK tax environment prompted families to reconsider both where they live and where their assets are held. “Monaco is competing for many of those families with Italy, Switzerland, Dubai and other international wealth centres.”
Magali Jacquet Lagrèze, Director of Communications at CFM Indosuez Wealth Management and a member of the AMAF committee promoting Monaco’s financial centre, has also seen greater interest from international families. She said at the Citywealth Forum in 2026. “People are looking for stability and predictability.”
Her point is important because Monaco’s proposition is not simply the absence of personal income tax. Security, political stability, schools, financial services and its position between France and Italy all enter the calculation for families considering a permanent move.
Jean Charles S. Gardetto, founder of Gardetto Law Offices, has practised at the Monaco Bar since 1988 and is a former Vice President of Monaco’s National Council. His work includes private international law, succession and wealth planning. He said. “The families who settle well here are the ones who were going to move anyway and found the tax position a bonus. The ones who come purely for the absence of income tax tend to discover that six months a year in two square kilometres is a lifestyle decision, not a fiscal one.”
William Easun, Managing Partner of Tempest Legal Services, has lived in Monaco for 46 years and advises international clients on relocation, wills, trusts and estate planning. He points Citywealth readers to the Monaco census 2025 for stats on citizens. Easun makes the related point that “Monaco residence is not simply a status acquired on paper. Residents need to spend real and consistent time in the Principality, with renewals depending on evidence that Monaco is genuinely their home.”
For Easun, Monaco’s geography makes that commitment rather different from living in an isolated jurisdiction. “We are not an Island. Nice, Cannes, St Tropez and Aix en Provence lie to the west, while San Remo, Turin, Milan and the Italian lakes are accessible to the east. ”
A property market changing at the top
Monaco property has been exceptionally expensive for years, so the interesting question is not whether prices are high but how the market is changing. Property transactions totalled €5.9 billion in 2025, close to the previous year’s record. The resale market strengthened significantly, with 429 transactions, up 17.5%, while their combined value rose 49.1% to a record €3.2 billion.
The average price per square metre eased by 1.4% to €57,569 after a strong increase in 2024. Larvotto, Monaco’s eastern waterfront district beside the new Mareterra development, moved in the opposite direction, with prices passing €70,000 per square metre for the first time.
At the top of the new property market, values remained exceptional even by Monaco standards. Of 64 newly built homes sold during 2025, 35 changed hands for more than €20 million and five for more than €100 million.
Property is also becoming part of Monaco’s wider move towards greater transparency. Draft Bill No. 276 proposes an annual charge equal to 1% of the market value of Monaco property held through a foreign legal entity unless the individuals who ultimately own that entity are disclosed. The proposal would also allow foreign entities to move their legal domicile to Monaco while retaining their existing legal identity, with registration duties waived during a three year period.
Gardetto said: “Anyone holding a Monaco apartment through an opaque offshore vehicle now has a choice to make, and a clock running. Disclose your beneficial owners, redomicile into Monaco while the exemption window is open, or pay 1% of market value every year. On a €20 million apartment that is €200,000 annually, indefinitely.”
The measure is not yet law, but its practical significance is easy to see in a market where individual properties routinely change hands for tens of millions of euros.
Monaco approaches its FATF test
Monaco has been on the Financial Action Task Force grey list since June 2024 after weaknesses were identified in its response to money laundering and financial crime. In June this year, FATF concluded that the Principality had substantially completed the action plan agreed when it was placed under increased monitoring.
Gardetto explains where Monaco now stands with FATF: “The technical compliance argument is essentially over, Monaco scores 39 out of 40. What the evaluators are now testing is durability: prosecutions brought, sanctions actually imposed, assets actually confiscated. That is judicial time, not legislative time, and no government can compress it.”
Brigham has also examined what Monaco’s recent regulatory decisions tell private clients and their advisers. His analysis of recent AMSF sanctions identifies several recurring themes. Firms are expected to understand who ultimately owns and controls client structures, properly establish and corroborate the source of wealth and funds, monitor transactions in the context of the client’s circumstances and report suspicious activity promptly.
Brigham also highlights an important point for international financial groups. Using another business within the same group to carry out part of the compliance work does not transfer responsibility away from the Monaco entity. The regulator is looking at how compliance procedures are applied to individual clients and transactions in practice.
This reflects the reforms FATF itself has recognised. In June it specifically cited stronger sanctions, increased resources for Monaco’s financial intelligence function, improvements in the quality and speed of suspicious transaction reporting, greater judicial resources and increased seizure of assets suspected of deriving from crime.
For private clients, the most visible effect is likely to be during onboarding, particularly where wealth is held through companies, trusts or structures spanning several countries. Banks and other regulated businesses are asking for detailed evidence about who ultimately owns or controls assets, how wealth was created and where funds came from.
The FATF onsite assessment is expected in September, the next stage following its June conclusion that Monaco had substantially completed its action plan.
Succession and forced heirship
Monaco is also reconsidering how its inheritance rules work for increasingly international families.
Monaco has forced heirship: Monaco law protects the inheritance rights of children by reserving part of a parent’s estate for them. The amount that can be left freely to somebody else depends on the number of children. With one child, half the estate can be freely disposed of. With two children, that falls to one third, and with three or more children it falls to one quarter. The remainder is reserved for the children.
That differs significantly from England and Wales, where people have testamentary freedom to decide through a will who should inherit. The distinction becomes particularly important for British families moving to Monaco with property, investments and family members spread across several countries.
The proposed changes to Monaco’s Code of Private International Law concern how these inheritance protections interact with the law governing an international estate. The aim is to move towards having one law govern the succession as a whole, rather than allowing different inheritance rules to reappear because of the deceased person’s nationality.
There is also a practical problem when an estate governed by English or another common law contains Monaco assets. The documents used to administer that estate do not always correspond neatly with Monaco’s notarial system. The proposed reform would allow Monaco courts to provide the equivalent documentation needed to establish who is entitled to those assets.
The proposals would also clarify which law applies to gifts made during someone’s lifetime, although Monaco law would continue to govern gifts of Monaco real estate. Draft Bill No. 272 was adopted by the National Council in November 2025 and the Government has indicated that it intends to bring forward its own legislation, so the final provisions are not yet known.
A Monaco foundation and a new alternative to the trust
Two other proposals could expand the structures available to families who want to organise wealth inside Monaco itself.
The proposed Monegasque patrimonial foundation would create a Monaco legal entity designed to hold, manage and pass on family wealth. It is intended for substantial fortunes, with a proposed minimum cash endowment of €10 million and ministerial approval required.
The foundation would have to be registered, disclose its beneficial owners, maintain audited accounts and comply with Monaco’s rules against money laundering. It would not override Monaco’s protected inheritance rights. For families already resident in the Principality, its significance is that they could eventually have a domestic foundation rather than establishing one in another jurisdiction.
The proposed fiducie addresses a different need. It would create a separate pool of assets placed under the control of a regulated fiduciary for management or security purposes. It has similarities with a trust but belongs to the civil law tradition and should not simply be described as a Monaco trust.
Monaco already has mechanisms for recognising trusts, including its longstanding trust legislation and the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts. The proposed foundation and fiducie therefore do not introduce private wealth planning to Monaco. They would broaden the range of domestic structures available to residents whose wealth may currently depend on vehicles established elsewhere.
The yacht is part of the family balance sheet
These reforms bring the story back to the Monaco Yacht Show. A yacht worth tens of millions of euros may be one of a family’s largest individual assets, yet its ownership can involve several jurisdictions at once. Residence, nationality, financing, VAT, registration, charter activity and succession can all affect the structure used to hold it.
Brigham argues that this is why yacht ownership increasingly needs to be considered alongside the family’s wider private wealth planning rather than treated as a separate luxury purchase. A move from Britain to Monaco, for example, can trigger questions not only about personal residence and tax but about whether existing companies, trusts, property, investments, yachts and aircraft still sit in the right structures.
Lionel Richard, Director of Luxury Asset Services at Equiom, advises private clients and family offices on yachts, aircraft and other high value assets. Speaking to Citywealth earlier this year, he identified two of the themes now driving those conversations: “Substance and transparency: clients are increasingly focused on ensuring their arrangements stand up to scrutiny” and “Succession: many clients are thinking more actively about how assets transition across generations.”
That connection between the harbour and the private client industry is one of Monaco’s strengths. The Yacht Show brings builders, brokers and some of the world’s newest yachts into Port Hercule, while a few streets away sit the banks, lawyers, trustees, wealth managers and family advisers dealing with the structures behind their ownership.
The broader Monaco story in 2026 is therefore not simply about more wealthy people arriving or larger yachts appearing in the harbour. British residents are increasing faster than the population overall, Monaco has substantially completed its FATF action plan, and legislation is being developed around property ownership, succession, foundations and fiduciary structures.
Monaco is competing with Italy, Switzerland, Dubai and Singapore for internationally mobile families who can choose where they live and organise their wealth. Its response is increasingly visible: preserve the security, tax position and lifestyle that have long attracted private wealth, while developing the legal and regulatory framework needed to manage that wealth across generations.
Key Takeaways
- The Monaco Yacht Show features 120 superyachts, showcasing new launches, including Sanlorenzo’s 73.4 metre Silver Fox.
- Monaco’s British population is growing faster than its overall population, highlighting an increase in wealthy clients choosing Monaco for residence.
- Recent reforms aim to clarify Monaco’s succession rules and enhance transparency in property ownership for international families.
- Monaco competes with global wealth centres, focusing on stability, security, and tailored wealth management for residents.
- The connection between yacht ownership and private wealth planning is vital, as financial and legal considerations intertwine with luxury asset ownership.
Karen Jones is the founder of Citywealth and a wealth management commentator with more than 20 years’ experience across global private wealth, family offices and succession. Before founding Citywealth in 2005, she held publishing roles at The Times and The Sunday Times, London; Legal Business magazine and worked on the Asia Pacific Legal 500.
Q: Why are wealthy Britons moving to Monaco?
A: Monaco is attracting growing interest from wealthy British individuals and families seeking stability, security and an internationally connected private wealth environment. Changes to the UK tax regime have added to interest in international relocation, but tax is only part of the picture. Monaco is in close proximity to Britain and combines political stability, personal security and quality of life with a highly concentrated network of private banks, family offices, lawyers and wealth advisers experienced in supporting internationally mobile families. For wealthy families considering a move, succession planning, residency, property ownership and the treatment of cross-border assets and structures can be just as important as taxation. Monaco’s appeal therefore extends beyond its tax environment to its established private client ecosystem and reputation as a long-term base for international wealth. Most of the professionals in Monaco have worked there for decades and are very highly regarded. See our Editor’s Top List here (Monaco’s leading private wealth advisers).
A: Monaco does not levy personal income tax on most residents. This is one of the Principality’s major attractions for internationally mobile individuals and families. Monaco also does not impose a general wealth tax or capital gains tax on individuals. French nationals are an important exception and may remain subject to French taxation under the Franco-Monegasque tax convention. Individuals relocating from the UK should also take professional advice on their UK tax residence and any continuing UK tax obligations, as becoming resident in Monaco does not automatically eliminate liabilities in another jurisdiction.
A: More than 3,000 British nationals live in Monaco. According to the latest 2025 population figures, British residents account for 7.9% of Monaco’s 38,857 residents, making them the fourth-largest nationality group in the Principality. The British community is also growing: 163 British residents were added during 2025, while people arriving from the UK accounted for 18.9% of new residents.
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