The family that came to us had over three hundred K-1s - and no structure at all.

The family that came to us had over three hundred K-1s - and no structure at all.

One individual, six trusts, two hundred and fifty investments, and a lot of ideas. But good intentions are not the same as having a strategy. Every entity had a reason when it was formed - a lender, a deal, a tax election - and twenty years later, it was a tax season that never ended.

A family office is, at its core, an investment company. The most successful investment companies in the world - private equity funds, hedge funds - already figured out how to structure one, refined over decades in competitive markets. Family offices do not need to invent a structure. They need to copy one.

My latest article with Jeffrey Rosen, CPA, CGMA, MBA - the latest in our Family Offices Series for Frazier & Deeter - is attached.