Litigation
Includes coordination of representation for plaintiffs and defendants in personal and business litigation, including partnership disputes; tax and real estate controversies; contractual disagreements; and intellectual property litigation.
Philanthropic Planning
Charitable and philanthropic activities should be part of a carefully coordinated Wealth Management Plan. Our experienced professionals help clients choose the appropriate planning entities to enhance their charitable giving desires, often a charitable supporting organization, but may also include charitable not-for-profit corporations or trusts.
Real Estate Matters
Includes coordination and advice on, or sale of, family residences, vacation homes, or other real estate investment contracts with real estate agents, builders, engineers and architects; lender relationships; governmental entitlements; and land-use planning.
Employment Practices and Liability
Includes pre-employment screening; confidentiality agreements; employee arbitration agreements; employee handbooks; workers compensation and other employee liability insurance; at-will employment agreements; labor procedures; employee restraining orders; workplace violence prevention advice; independent contractor agreements; and separation agreements.
Investment, Insurance and Wealth Preservation
Includes access to institutional wealth management advisors for cash management, private equity placements, exchange funds, hedge funds and concentrated and restricted stock strategies. The Family Office Group tracks and coordinates all investment, insurance and wealth preservation activities. A client’s full investment, banking, insurance and wealth portfolio is pooled and updated daily, ensuring a complete and up-to-date financial picture at any given time.
Intellectual Property
Includes coordination of representation for worldwide copyright, trademark and patent development and protection
Aircraft and Watercraft
Includes tax-deferred exchange, purchase and sale; leasing; time-share; maintenance; and taxation.
The Family Office Group: Advisor Team Coordination
Because cooperation between, and coordination with, various professionals is critical to the overall success of our client’s Design Strategy and overall Wealth Management Plan, one of the primary functions of our Family Office Group Team is facilitating regular contact with our client’s other advisors. Whether our clients use advisor’s previously engaged or we assist in introducing new advisors to our clients, our Family Office Group Team ensures that this team of advisors achieves the goals and objectives of our clients.
Strategic Partners
Our Family Office Group works with carefully selected Strategic Partners who are professionals with years of experience consulting high-net-worth clients. They work with each family and individual family members coordinating in regards to the design, building and maintenance of the client’s Wealth Management Plan. Clients have access to key tax, risk management, investment and insurance industry professionals within our Group and outside our Group to ensure that a client’s wealth preservation and growth needs are continuously monitored and that key adjustments are made on a regular basis. Our Family Office Group works with the clients’ existing professional advisors or will research and recommend advisors who will contribute appropriate advice for our client’s overall Wealth Management Plan.
Attorneys
Attorneys are intimately involved in the wealth management process from the creation of entities to house different kinds of assets through the accumulation, preservation, and distribution phases of our client’s lives. Our Group’s attorneys, of-counsel, and national and international affiliate attorneys advise our clients regarding the structure of their operating companies, how to reduce taxes, how to protect their assets, how to gift interests with the optimal control and tax benefits, and more.
Bankers
The banker owns the understanding of the client’s cash and credit positions. Our Family Office Group serves as a key coordinator for credit and lending management. Credit is an essential tool in managing the family financial acquisition and investment portfolios, and can greatly impact tax and estate planning. Credit management also has a direct relationship to cash flow management. The banker’s role on the Advisor’s Team is to be aware of the client’s various credit and lending strategies, and to provide the proper products and services to meet those needs.
Insurance Providers
The Family Office Group manages the risk and liability of the client through an appropriate insurance coverage. They identify, evaluate and recommend the best way(s) to protect the family’s business, investment and personal assets. Insurance recommendations range from auto, home and life, estate and retirement strategies, to fine art and personal security. Our Family Office Group often serves as the intermediary between the family members and the insurance provider, assists with payment of premiums and monitors coverage, and evaluates other means of liability risk management. The insurance provider works in conjunction with the Group accountants, attorneys and/or investment strategic partners to employ creative uses of life insurance in the wealth preservation, transfer and estate planning process.
Brokers
Traditionally, our clients use a variety of brokers. On the Family Office Group Advisor’s Team, the role of the broker includes trade processing, custody of various assets, securities lending, and financing. Most brokers today offer services ranging from investment advice to online consolidated reporting. Our Family Office Group relies on brokerage firms to facilitate financing of the sale of an operating business, and then often use the broker to assist them in diversifying the resulting liquidity. Coordination between the Family Office Group and brokers is vital to ensure proper tax strategies are discussed and any resulting strategies that are executed fit in with the client’s Wealth Management Plan. Premier brokerage firms have invested heavily in their technology to allow them to offer clients flexible online reporting in a real-time environment. The Family Office Group has the ability to pool this reporting information into our client’s reporting service from multiple brokers and sources.
Financial Planners
Comprehensive financial planning for high-net worth individuals and families involves a systematic and disciplined process of communication, analysis and strategic planning. Financial statements, investment cost basis history tracking, income and expense projections, risk management profile, investment portfolio overview, tax status and estate plan all contribute to the Wealth Management Plan. The planning process allows the planner to work with the family group members individually and jointly to integrate the client’s income and expense objectives, risk tolerance and financial flexibility with the investment strategy. Our Family Office Group coordinates the planning process in-house or with a client’s existing advisors to ensure that the client’s financial objectives are monitored, reviewed, and adjusted where necessary, on a regular basis.
The Family Office… What does it do?
- A Family Office is a formal center for managing and preserving family wealth.
- A Family Office exists to serve the financial and lifestyle needs of a family and its future generations.
- A Family Office serves as the central coordinator of all business, investment and personal activities.
