Preventing And Avoiding Costly Conflicts

Preparing for changes helps to maximize the family's wealth and objectives

Family office (FO) goals, structures, leadership and challenges are as complex and distinct as the families themselves. Although each FO approach and structure is unique, all FOs must address the challenges presented by potentially divergent goals, incentives, constituencies and duties. These types of forces—some obvious, others more subtle—result in potential or actual conflicts of interest that FO leader¬ship must identify and address, regardless of the spe¬cific structure. And not surprisingly, the more complex your client's FO structure becomes or the more that it attempts to accomplish, the more challenges that can arise relating to addressing competing duties or con¬cerns and potential or actual conflicts of interest.