Westwick Partners
Services

Setting up a family office.

For families who think an office might make sense, often after a sale. We help the family say what it wants from an office before anyone draws a structure, then build it with the people and advisers it needs.

When an office becomes an option.

  • A liquidity event has just made a family office an option.
  • The family has outgrown what its bank or a multi-family office can give it.
  • Several advisers have each proposed a structure, and the family wants a neutral view before choosing.
  • The family wants to know what an office would cost before it commits.

We start with the family.

A family office is a tool. Its design should follow what the family wants it to do, how involved the family wants to be, and how it wants to work with it. The structure comes after, and is drawn with the family's lawyers and tax advisers.

  • Vision

    What the office is for, what it will and will not do, and who in the family decides.

  • Structure

    Jurisdictions, vehicles, decision rights and governance: the options, and what each means for the family's control and costs.

  • People and advisers

    The roles the office needs, the people to fill them, and the external providers for what the office will not do itself.

  • Cost

    What the office will cost to run, priced before it exists, so the family knows what it is committing to.

Estimate the cost with our calculator
Isabelle IraniPaul ReynoldsLed by Isabelle Irani and Paul Reynolds

How it runs.

  • A first exchange

    A partner listens to where the family stands and says whether an office is the right answer at all.

  • A letter of engagement

    The scope and the steps, agreed before we start.

  • A working office

    A partner leads the project until the office runs, then hands it to the team the family has chosen.

Questions we are asked.

  • 01 When does a family need its own office?

    When its affairs need one point of decision and coordination that a bank or a multi-family office cannot give. Complexity and the family's wish to be involved matter more than size.

  • 02 Do you recommend jurisdictions and structures?

    We set out the options and what each means for the family's control and costs. Legal and tax advice stays with the family's lawyers and tax advisers.

  • 03 Do you recruit the team?

    We set out the profiles the office needs. Depending on how specialised they are, we either run the search with the family or recommend an executive search firm and work alongside it.

Contact Isabelle.

Write to Isabelle