Set up a family governance framework or family office
We will put a structure around family decisions before the next one has to be made informally.Most family wealth is governed by habit rather than by any agreement. That works while one generation is making the decisions and stops working the moment there are several. Family governance is the deliberate answer. It is a written framework setting out who decides what, how the family is informed, and how members join or exit. It also sets out what happens when they disagree. A family office is the operating side of the same thing, bringing the administration of investments, entities and reporting under one roof.
A process agreed before it is needed
Families that set the rules while everyone still agrees rarely have to rely on them later.
Structures that support the framework
Trustee and director appointments are aligned with the governance rather than cutting across it.
A way to disagree safely
A defined process for resolving disagreement keeps a difference of view from becoming a claim.
What is family governance, and what does a family office actually do?
Family governance is the set of agreed rules by which a family makes decisions about shared wealth. It usually includes a family charter or constitution and a forum where decisions get made. It also defines the relationship between the family and the entities that hold the assets. It is not legally binding in the way a trust deed is, and that is the point: it governs behaviour rather than title. A family office is the operational counterpart. It centralises investment administration, entity compliance, reporting and often the family’s philanthropy, either as a dedicated business or as a service bought in.
Is a family charter legally binding?
Generally not, and that is deliberate. A charter governs how the family behaves and decides, while the trust deeds and company constitutions govern legal title and control. The two work together. Making the charter binding would remove the flexibility that lets it adapt as the family changes.
How is this different from just having good trust deeds?
A trust deed says who may benefit and who decides. It does not say how the family should reach those decisions, who should be consulted, or what information members are entitled to. Most family disputes are about those questions rather than about the terms of the deed.
Do we need a family office?
Only if the administration justifies it. A dedicated office makes sense where there are many entities, substantial direct investments and a real reporting burden. Below that, buying the service in is usually better value. The governance framework is worth having either way.
When is the right time to start?
Before the generation currently making the decisions steps back, and well before anyone is in dispute. A framework agreed while the family is getting along is a very different document from one negotiated while it is not.
Start before the first serious disagreement
Tell us who is in the family, what is held and how decisions get made now. We will set out what a governance framework would need to cover.
Families do not fall out over money, they fall out over process
The wealth is held across trusts, companies and personal names, and the decisions are made by whoever has always made them. That has worked. What has not been tested is what happens when that person steps back. Nor what happens when the next generation holds different views about risk, involvement or distribution. By the time those questions arrive, the family is usually trying to design a process and resolve a dispute at the same time.
- We will map the family, the entities and how decisions are currently made.
- We will facilitate agreement on the principles the family wants to govern by.
- We will draft a family charter recording those principles and the decision-making forum.
- We will align the trust and company structures with the governance framework.
- We will advise on whether a family office should be built or bought in.
The family has grown past the point where one person can decide
There is a business, or a portfolio, or both, and it has done well enough that the next generation is involved or soon will be. Some of them work in it and some do not. Decisions that used to be made over a kitchen table now affect people with different circumstances and different expectations. Nobody has written down how those decisions are supposed to be made, or who is entitled to be part of them.
What's included in your family governance setup
- A map of the family, the entities and the existing decision-making.
- Facilitated sessions to agree the governing principles.
- A family charter or constitution.
- Terms of reference for the decision-making forum.
- Alignment of trustee and director appointments with the framework.
- Advice on establishing or outsourcing a family office.
What happens without a framework
Families rarely come apart over a single decision. They come apart over a series of decisions that some members had no part in and no way to question.
The pattern is consistent. One branch works in the business and another does not, and the two develop entirely different views about what the business owes them. Distributions are made at the discretion of a trustee who is also a family member, which turns every year into a judgement about fairness. Information flows to some members and not others, so a decision that was perfectly reasonable looks like something else.
The legal structures usually survive this. The family does not. By the time lawyers are engaged the question has stopped being about governance and started being about a claim. The cost of that is measured in relationships as much as in fees.
From decisions made by habit to a process everyone agreed to
We start with the family rather than the structures, because governance has to reflect how this family actually works. Who is in it, who wants to be involved, what each generation expects, and where the existing friction sits.
Then we build the framework. That means a charter recording the family’s agreed principles, and a decision-making forum with defined membership and authority. It means rules about information, and about how members join and exit. It also means a process for resolving disagreement before it becomes a dispute. We align the legal structures with it, so the trustee and director appointments actually support the governance rather than cutting across it. Where a family office is warranted, we advise on whether to build one or buy the service.
How we build a governance framework
Agree the principles, define the forum, then align the structures.Map the family
We set out who is in the family, what is held, and how decisions actually get made now.
Agree the principles
We facilitate the conversations that settle what the family wants its wealth to do.
Document and align
We draft the charter and forum, and align the trust and company appointments with them.
A decision-making process the whole family agreed to in advance
Raising governance can feel like anticipating a family argument that has not happened. In our experience it is the families who raise it early who never need the process they built.
We have two Family Business Association accredited advisors, and we are the FBA State Partner in South Australia. Two of our lawyers are full members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. We advise family groups on governance frameworks, family charters and the alignment of trust and company structures with them. We work alongside your accountant and adviser rather than displacing them.
Our great lawyer guarantee
Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.
Take the time
We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.
Share our knowledge
We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.
Stick to our knitting
We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.
Work as one team
Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.
Fair pricing
A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.
It is your show
We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.
Put a governance framework in place
Tell us who is in the family, what is held, and how decisions are made now. We will set out what a framework would cover and what it would take to agree it.
More on this area of law
Read more about family governance, family charters and family offices, and how ADLV Law can help.
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