Keeping specialist advice available for infrequent family office decisions
Built on Chapter 4 of How to Start a Family Office by Richard C. Wilson.
Some family office decisions need specialist advice too infrequently to justify a full-time role. A billionaire family can still prepare for those decisions. I would establish how the right professional becomes available and what must happen before an urgent assignment is accepted.
Chapter 4 discusses retained legal assistance and proactive specialist involvement. The application here is standby coverage. A name in the contact list is useful, but the office needs a workable engagement route when a specific issue arises.
Identify the decisions that require occasional expertise
Look at the family's actual investments and obligations. Identify issues beyond the ordinary competence of the office team. A cross-border ownership change may require different expertise from a domestic vendor contract.
Distinguish recurring support from rare assignments. The office can maintain a regular relationship for ordinary work while preparing a referral route for a specialized question. One firm may not be the appropriate answer for every issue.
Ask the existing advisors where they would seek specialist input. Their familiarity with the family's circumstances can help identify the required expertise without sharing confidential material prematurely.
Confirm what the relationship provides
Ask whether the professional has accepted an ongoing engagement or would need to consider each assignment separately. Availability should not be inferred from a prior conversation.
Understand the work required before the specialist can advise. Conflicts checks and information gathering can take time. The office should plan around those requirements instead of promising the family an immediate answer.
Have the responsible people document agreed response arrangements and any limitations. A retainer may secure access for specified work, but its exact scope should be understood from the engagement.
Identify the basic information the specialist would need for a likely assignment. Keep the relevant entity records and prior advice accessible to authorized staff. Avoid sending everything in advance without an agreed reason.
Assign responsibility for keeping the package current. A specialist brought into an urgent matter should not have to discover that the office supplied an obsolete ownership chart.
Share information through approved channels once the engagement and disclosure permissions are established. The preparation should improve accuracy without creating unnecessary copies of private family records.
Define who may activate the specialist
Choose the office role authorized to request an assessment. State when that person must obtain approval for scope or expense. The founder should know whether a call is preliminary coordination or an instruction to begin billable work.
Give employees a route for raising an issue that may require specialist attention. They should describe the facts and the pending decision without attempting to diagnose a technical problem themselves.
The office lead can then obtain an appropriate assessment. Keep the decision about seeking help separate from the substantive decision the specialist is being asked to support.
A trusted professional can be unavailable or unable to accept a particular matter. Identify an alternative route before that happens. It may be a referral through existing counsel or another qualified firm.
Keep the transfer of information authorized and proportionate. Staff should not send the same sensitive package to several firms in the hope that someone will respond quickly.
Where timing prevents a supported decision, bring that limitation to the authorized decision maker. An approaching deadline does not create expertise within the office or remove the need for professional judgment.
Keep advice connected to implementation
When the specialist responds, identify who will carry out the resulting work. Advice can remain unused if the office receives a technical memorandum without an assigned implementation contact.
Have the specialist clarify the actions and assumptions relevant to the assignment. Keep further questions within the engagement, and involve other professionals when the proposed action affects their work.
Retain the advice with its context and permitted audience. Later staff should know which facts it addressed before treating it as guidance for a different transaction. Standby expertise is useful when the office can obtain and apply it responsibly.
Questions and answers
Does having a professional's number establish coverage? No. Confirm engagement and availability arrangements before relying on them.
Should the office hire every specialty in-house? Match the delivery arrangement to the actual work. Infrequent specialist decisions can often be supported through properly established external relationships.
Related
This page is general information, not legal advice. Family governance documents and dispute processes should be reviewed by a qualified attorney.