What Should Family Offices Ask Their Lawyers – White Paper

Editorial Staff

26 January 2022

Dentons, the international law firm, is exploring how family offices decide what structures and entities to use for managing investments. It is issuing a series of guides helping FOs to navigate an increasingly complex space.

Family office strategic considerations – pivotal questions family offices should ask their lawyer, is the first in a two-part series from the law firm.

The study outlines questions family office figures should ask such as: What are the key legal issues to consider before, during and after a liquidity event? Would our family office benefit from a holding-company structure? Should one or more trusts own the family office legal entity? What is a family office management company? Should we consider using a holding company for our investments? How can we use investment policy statements to help guide and interact with the family's investment advisors ?

Many of the questions will be familiar to readers of a recent book by Edward Marshall and William Woodson . Marshall is now head of the family office practice at Dentons.