Expert Roundtable: What Services Should a Family Office Provide?

Should a family office prepare tax returns for family members? Arrange vacation travel? Help with estate plans? Are these services also available to all family members, including those who are married in? Are there fees associated with the services?

Image by Cassidy Reed

There are as many answers to these kinds of questions as there are family offices in operation. We asked several professionals how their family offices approached decisions about which services to provide and to who:

“From inception, in 2019, my dad (G2) was very clear on what services we would and would not provide. Since we are small (only fully serving one branch of a larger family) he said, ‘We will not walk your dog or be a daycare service.’ In other words, we are self-sufficient adults and can do personal tasks for ourselves, but when it comes to legal, tax, trust administration and cash flow strategy, we can rely on the office.”
— Celine Fitzgerald, G3 member, Webb & O’Neill Capital; president of Fitzgerald Family Foundation

“As our family’s situation changes over time — or perhaps we learn of new tools (like 529 plans) — we collaboratively update the services and policies our family office provides.

- Advertisement -

“Most recently, our fifth generation has grown from newborns to preschool and soon kindergarten age. For this reason, the service/policy around education budgets and the 529 plans implemented for the youngest NextGen needed more guidance. While the prior policy focused on the dynamics of funding various 529 plans, we reached the stage of educational spending. For instance, a PA 529 plan must be spent on tuition starting in kindergarten, while our family office constituents are interested in preschool and extracurricular activities for the youngsters like ‘Camp Business Cents.’ Yes, we have our preschoolers attending business camp already!

“Over the course of about three months, kicked off at a bi-annual family office meeting, various casual conversations and a final Zoom meeting, an updated policy has been published to address spending of 529 plans where they can apply and how to spend on educational
opportunities not applicable for 529 plans.”
— Nathan Myer, fourth-generation family office principal

“When we created the Pepin Family Office, our priority was preserving the family’s legacy while ensuring generational success. I’ve seen firsthand how wealth can disappear by the third generation — my goal is to make sure we don’t become part of that statistic. That means building a structure that supports our family’s values and long-term vision, not just day-to-day needs. The office serves a practical function — investment management, oversight — but we intentionally chose to center it around a broader mission: community impact and continuity. We lean heavily on collaboration and longstanding relationships, like bringing in former Florida Senate President and longtime friend Tom Lee as CEO, to help us stay aligned with our goals and remain accountable.”
— Tom Pepin, founder, Pepin Family Office

Image by Cassidy Reed

“We are a sixth-generation office with over 30 households. We can’t be a full-service family office to all 70 family members. Instead, we focus on the best possible common denominators: what services can we provide (or coordinate) in a more effective, personalized and cost-efficient manner. At the same time, the family has had a long-held ethos that emphasizes self-sufficiency. So, we look to provide the types of services that many people, of any financial means, would look to professionals for. The services we provide include tax compliance, fiduciary services, including investment management and portfolio accounting, philanthropic services and a catch-all that I refer to as ‘trusted advice’. We have to provide an advantage to them for them to want to be part of this family cooperative. While there are many family members, it is still a small and related client base, which means a very high level of attention. We are free from a profit motive and most conflicts of interests, and we have the entire family history retained within our office and our team. But it is important that the quality of services is near best-in-class. In the end, like any cooperative, we try to achieve fairness throughout the family, but the need and consumption of the trusted advice will always vary for each individual depending on life events and circumstance. I think the family members understand that we are here for them in a very dedicated way, and that in itself has the greatest value.”
— Rob Raich, president, Abacus and Associates, Inc.

We also heard from people who work with many family offices about how they recommend families make these decisions:

“Generally, we suggest that families try to identify which service or services are necessities for their family members — for example, if a family member were to walk into the family office tomorrow and ask for one thing, what would it be? The answer can vary depending on the individual and family, but you can start to see a theme or themes, and those are generally the services that the family office must offer as they’re of utmost importance to members of that family. For larger families with varying levels of participation, surveys are also great tools to identify which services the family would like to rely on the family office for — and also surveys of staff members to help answer questions around resource optimization. The family office services often provide great synergies to family members, as there is often overlap in asset ownership as well as overlap between family member goals and capabilities of existing or potential resources for that office.”
— Janet Arzt, founder, Parere Advisory

“Family offices face numerous decisions about which services to offer family members. An effective approach considers family needs, privacy, cost, risk and long-term sustainability. Initially, the family should understand their core priorities. Once these have been identified, the family can develop a strategy to meet those objectives and determine which services align with these core values.

Image by Cassidy Reed

“Family offices may conduct a comprehensive needs assessment, which involves surveying family members to identify their needs and expectations in areas such as investment, tax planning and education. Another recommended practice is to establish a governance structure, such as a family council. This governance structure can clarify decision-making processes regarding the services offered and how requests are evaluated and create policies for adding and removing services.”
— Laura Pearson, Deloitte Private US Family Enterprise leader; partner, Deloitte Tax LLP

“When evaluating when or if it’s the right time to set up a family office, it’s important to consider a variety of factors, such as governance, cost, staffing, operational structure, cybersecurity and technology, in addition to your financial position and long-term goals. Ultimately, the family’s mission, vision and values should underpin any decisions on the capabilities and structure a family office will deliver to family members. This helps the family come together and form a family constitution so future generations understand the genesis of the wealth and expectations. This is the very foundation of the single-family office, and it is paramount to their success. Once the foundation is determined, the family can then decide on which specific services the family office will provide and which services to outsource. Often, families will focus their family office staff’s attention on the core services as defined by their mission — be it financial, philanthropic or direct investing — and outsource other services to a well-established partner with the expertise, experience and infrastructure to deliver these services.”
— Joseph Quinan, head of Family Office Services for PNC Private Bank

About the Author

Margaret Steen

Margaret Steen is the editor of FO Pro, The Family Office Professional. Based in Silicon Valley, she has written for Family Business Magazine for more than 15 years.


Related Articles

FAMILY OFFICE + FAMILY BUSINESS

Sign up for FO PRO: The Family Office Professional. FO PRO connects family office leadership with the family.