If you’ve grown a successful family business, you’ve likely begun thinking about legacy, succession, and wealth preservation. You’ve worked hard to build your enterprise, but managing the financial, operational, and emotional complexities that come with it can quickly become overwhelming.
This is where a family office comes in.
What is a family office?
At its core, a family office is a centralised hub that manages your family’s business, investments, and wealth. But each family office reflects the unique story behind the wealth, its origin, size, and the priorities of the family members involved.
Main types of family office structures
· Single-Family Office: Dedicated to managing one family’s affairs, often with in-house staff.
· Multi-Family Office: Offers services to several families through a shared service entity.
· Virtual Family Office: Coordinates various external advisors through structured, collaborative meetings.
Each model suits different family dynamics and levels of complexity. For most family businesses, the virtual family office strikes the right balance between expertise, independence, and control.
Is a family office right for my family business?
You don’t need billionaire status to benefit. If your family:
· Owns a shared business,
· Invests collectively,
· Is planning for succession, or
· Supports philanthropy together,
…then a family office could provide much-needed clarity, structure, and strategic direction.
While single-family offices are more viable for very wealthy families, multi-family and virtual models are accessible to a wider range of successful business owners.
What do family offices actually do?
At their best, family offices manage more than just money. Here’s what they typically cover:
· Financial Management – Cash flow, banking, and reporting.
· Investment Oversight – Monitoring returns, risk, and long-term strategy.
· Business Governance – Strategic planning, accountability, and performance review.
· Succession and Estate Planning – Ensuring a smooth, fair transition.
· Philanthropy – Structuring impact around shared family values.
Aside from the above, family offices are often a critical part of ensuring that family governance does not fall by the wayside. They can help establish a specific forum for family members to get together and address several matters that affect the family – even outside of the core business.
As part of this, family offices can also help families define purpose and create governance frameworks, like Family Charters and Constitutions that clarify how decisions are made, by creating a forum to discuss these concepts and agree on an approach.
A tool for intergenerational connection
Not every family member will be ready to jump into leadership, but that’s okay. Family offices often create entry points for younger generations and ensure fair, structured involvement. Over time, this involvement can develop into meaningful contribution and participation. The right family office model helps:
· Build trust between generations.
· Foster shared identity and direction.
· Prevent misunderstandings and conflict.
We've seen families not only preserve wealth but also strengthen bonds through the right family office setup, by using the family office as a way to facilitate inter-generational communication and information sharing.
Why families choose to set up a family office
Scenario 1: You're starting to think about succession
You’ve built your business, and your children are beginning to step in. A family office marks the start of your succession journey, ensuring that your legacy is passed on intentionally and fairly.
Scenario 2: You've experienced the pain of poor succession
You or your family may have been through a rough handover of wealth or leadership. Now, you're motivated to create a structure that will protect future generations from the same experience.
In both cases, a family office provides the legal, financial, and emotional scaffolding to manage this transition confidently.
Governance: the glue that holds it all together
Legal and financial documents are just the beginning. Families are increasingly documenting:
· Mission, Vision, and Values
· Family Constitutions
· Charters for Decision-Making and Roles
These help your business-owning family set clear expectations and avoid conflict when key decisions need to be made.
What should I consider when deciding how to structure my family office?
Access to best-of-breed advice
As a business-owning family, your needs span legal, tax, investment, property, philanthropy, and succession planning. A virtual model lets you hand-pick top advisors in each area. If you are considering an in-house solution, vet the advisors that operate in-house and enquire whether any advice might be outsourced to a partner firm.
Strong checks-and-balances
An argument in favour of the virtual family office is that this model brings with it independent advisors. Independent advisors offer a variety of perspectives and reduce risk of internal bias or oversight. This transparency protects both your business and your family relationships.
Expanded commercial networks
Advisors from different firms bring access to diverse networks, broadening your exposure to investment opportunities, talent, and innovation.
That said, a virtual office does require more hands-on coordination. Your family may need to appoint someone internally to manage advisors, schedules, and decisions.
If your preference is a one-stop-shop or shared administrative cost, consider a single or multi-family office model instead.
About the author
ADLV Law work with business-owning families to safeguard their enterprises, clarify ownership structures, and ensure long-term continuity, even during personal change. They are a family-owned law firm specialising in Wills, Estates, Succession Planning, and Business Law for over 20 years. They work closely with families and business owners to provide practical, tailored legal solutions that protect their interests and secure their future.
Phone: 1300 654 590
Email: wehelp@adlvlaw.com.au
Website: adlvlaw.com.au
ADLV Law offers a full commercial law service to independently minded entrepreneurs, investors and their families. We are ready to guide you to the right solution for your legal issue and have demonstrated expertise in advising on all aspects of commercial and business law, taxation, estate planning and succession, philanthropy, family law, property matters and commercial disputes.
