FAQs

What is a family office? 

A family office manages the assets of individuals, families, or business partners. Its core purpose is typically to create customized flexibility, convenience, and reduced overall expense by centralizing and often employing their professionals to directly manage property, investment portfolios, insurance, accounting, and charitable giving. Impact Family Office also provides administrative and estate support, such as bookkeeping, document management, and professional coordination.

Impact Family Office is a collaborative multi-family office, which means that we do not aggregate professional services in house and our services are all customizable to serve multiple clients. We welcome new clients who have preexisting professional relationships; it makes our job easier when coordinating and aligning the goals of the client. 

When do I need a family office? 

Our clients have varying degrees of need for a family office. Some clients have complex financial situations with real estate assets, family businesses, multiple trusts, and in need of daily accounting services for all of their entities, while other clients may only want the peace of mind that we know where all their wealth is, understand their goals, and can provide insightful and helpful guidance in decision-making.

Ultimately, a family office can provide the best transition for wealth in accordance with the client’s estate plans. Regardless of who they have as successor trustee or executor, a family office should have the estate in a well-documented, well-managed, and operationally efficient state when planned or unplanned transitions take place.

How does Impact Family Office charge for services?

The majority of our clients have a flat monthly fee based on the scope of services determined in our consulting agreement. If the amount of time dedicated to the scope of work is hard to determine, we may start on an hourly basis and move to a flat fee after three to six months. Some of our clients prefer to be billed on an hourly basis when the engagement has lots of projects and provision of services on an as-needed-basis.

Independent trustee fees are based on an evaluation of fair compensation for fiduciary duties and additional responsibilities associated with the assets of the estate.

What are your areas of expertise? 

Impact Family Office works with clients who have a wide variety of assets and engagement needs. Our particular areas of expertise include real estate assets, family businesses, and private foundations.

Many of our clients have residential and commercial real estate holdings. For some, we provide property management services and full-service accounting related to those assets. For others, we act as director of finance or provide board governance for their family businesses. We also act as philanthropic advisors and administrators of a number of private family foundations.

Are you a trust company or a registered investment advisor?

No. We are not a trust company and we have no assets under management as a registered investment advisor.

What is an independent trustee?  

An independent trustee is an individual that serves as trustee in their personal capacity, as opposed to a corporate trustee (also known as a trust company). When an independent trustee is named as trustee, they are personally liable for the duties and responsibilities bestowed upon them. If that person resigns from their trustee position or dies, the named successor trustee becomes the trustee.

When a corporate trustee or trust company is named trustee, the corporate entity bears the duties and responsibilities as trustee, not a specific person or employee of that company. This may mean that the person the client envisions as maintaining the relationship with their beneficiaries could be promoted out of the position, assigned it to a colleague, or quit their job. The corporate trustee would then assign a new person as the trust officer to continue the relationship. Furthermore, trust companies are incentivized to convert an estate’s assets to liquid portfolios, avoid management of real estate, and discontinue the operations of closely-held businesses.

Why should I choose an independent trustee?

An independent trustee may be chosen for many reasons or a specific reason particular to the trust grantor. Sometimes it is not best for a beneficiary to serve as trustee when there are other family dynamics or relationships to take into considerations. The duties and responsibilities of a trustee can be significant for a family  member and sometimes a burden to uphold.

Many estate planning attorneys are recommending independent trustees because of the certainty of who the trustee will be and the avoidance of conflicts of interest by corporate trustees managing the investments.

Furthermore, an independent trustee can have more flexibility by which they can care for and maintain the wishes of the grantor. This is often achieved by the intentional and direct relationships created with the beneficiaries and the freedom from the corporate trustee’s company policies and procedures. 

Do I have to fire anyone to work with you?

In most cases, no. We like to think of our office as an added benefit to the professional relationships that clients already have. We don’t take over or compete with attorneys, CPAs, investment advisors, or insurance brokers. At times, we will help clients fill the gap in their professional roster of experts and because we work with many clients, we have existing relationships that can make the process faster and cater to the client’s specialty needs and personality.

Do you work with clients outside of California? 

Yes. We have family office clients that reside in various states outside of California.

A greater conversation may be necessary for trustee clients, because state tax filings can be impacted based on the location of the trustee.