A client of ours asked a lawyer outside of wb.group to draft resolutions for a share transfer. An error was made, so the lawyer later tried to “reverse” the transaction with another set of documents, without clarifying whether the first transfer had been intended.

This created a serious risk. A new shareholder had briefly been entered into the register of members, which could have triggered a taxable event or other legal consequences. Worse still, the client lacked any documentation to prove that the transfer had been an error rather than a genuine change of ownership.

When the client came to us, we immediately identified the legal risk of trying to simply reverse the transaction.

We ensured the documentation recorded the event as a mistake, not as a legitimate transfer, thereby avoiding recognition of ownership. We also used the case as a learning opportunity for our own team, reinforcing across our team the importance of asking clarifying questions rather than blindly processing client instructions.

In the end, the client avoided an unnecessary tax liability.

The register of members was updated to accurately reflect the client’s intentions, and the situation was resolved cleanly and transparently, before it could escalate into a more serious compliance problem.