Setting up a family office after selling a business
Built on Chapter 6 of The Single Family Office by Richard C. Wilson. Full chapter text: FamilyOffices.com.
Selling the business changes who is responsible for the family's financial work. The company may have paid people who handled records, insurance, and the founder's calendar. After the sale, those people may answer to a buyer. Establish who will do the work before assuming the sale proceeds have made life simpler.
Chapter 6 treats the office launch as a coordinated project. For a billionaire founder, I would start with the obligations that survive the closing. A completed transaction can leave an earnout, retained shares, guarantees, or documents the family will need later. Put those obligations on the same schedule as the family's spending needs.
Separate the sale team from the ongoing team
The transaction attorney and deal accountant know the sale. They may have little responsibility for administering the family's affairs afterward. Ask each person what their engagement covers after closing and who receives the records when it ends.
Request a handover list with a named recipient for every important file. That includes the signed sale agreement and amendments, ownership records, unresolved questions, and the basis information the family's tax professionals require. Keep access to the original records even when an advisor prepares a summary.
A founder should be able to see which questions belong to the transaction team and which belong to the new office. Otherwise each team may assume the other one is handling a payment or notice.
Richard's warning about promised coordination
In my recorded teaching, I describe a problem with services sold under the family-office label. A family can expect proactive tax planning and coordinated departments, then find that the promised planning does not happen and the departments do not communicate. That is my observation about delivery, not a claim about every provider.
After a business sale, I would test that promise with a written assignment. Who prepares the cash schedule, who obtains the tax estimate, and who checks the spending plan against both? The recorded warning supports asking for evidence of coordination. It does not supply an answer to the family's tax questions.
Give the proceeds an interim home with controls
Before money arrives, ask the family's advisors to assess account ownership, authorized signers, and the proposed destination. Confirm payment instructions through a trusted route. A new office should not depend on forwarding a last-minute email containing account details.
Have the qualified team identify the amount needed for known obligations and the timing of those payments. Keep that planning distinct from the decision to commit long-term investment capital. The founder may feel pressure to put the money to work immediately. The first job is to understand what portion is actually available for that purpose.
Replace the company's informal support
Write down every personal or family task the operating company used to perform. Ask about bill payment, insurance renewals, document storage, and administrative help. Some arrangements may continue under an agreement; others may end with the transaction.
The office lead should assign each task to an employee or outside firm and confirm the handover. A familiar company email address is not evidence that the person can still act for the family. Obtain the proper authority and establish a separate communication route where needed.
Decide what the founder will still run
A founder who enjoyed operating a business may want another operating role. Another may want to spend less time making decisions. Neither preference is obvious from the balance sheet. Discuss it before hiring an investment executive who expects a level of delegation the founder will never accept.
Record the decisions the founder reserves and the work the office can perform without another call. Include a route for changing that division. The sale creates an opportunity to choose a new working arrangement, but it does not create the arrangement by itself.
Test the handover before expanding the portfolio
Ask the new team to produce one consolidated account list and a schedule of upcoming obligations. Have it explain who can approve a payment from each relevant entity. Then trace one ordinary bill through the proposed process without sending money as a test.
Missing signatures and conflicting ownership records should surface at this stage. Resolve them before adding more investment entities. Keep the first operating report narrow enough that the founder can identify an unanswered question and assign it to someone.
What to take from this
- List the obligations that continue after closing.
- Assign the transfer of records and former company support.
- Confirm decision authority before committing new capital.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Family governance documents and dispute processes should be reviewed by a qualified attorney.
Questions and answers
Does closing finish the family-office setup? No. Closing transfers the business; the ongoing family work still needs an owner.
Who should assess the sale-related tax obligations? The qualified tax and legal team working with the complete transaction records.