Private Family Trust Companies

Are you creating long-term trusts but are unsure how to name a trustee to manage assets in the future? Do you want to maintain control over the shareholder decisions for your family business and your wealth strategy? We will help you implement long-term planning strategies to preserve your legacy across generations.

A Private Family Trust Company (PFTC) is an entity that provides trust administration and fiduciary services to a multi-generational, single-family group. Although they can be combined as one entity, it is more common to have a PFTC separate from a family office due to the fiduciary powers granted to the PTFC. A PFTC can offer a unique opportunity to further estate planning objectives as well as family governance needs, ensuring successful transitions across future generations. Families can feel at ease knowing there is a secure plan in place that will ensure safe and accountable management of family assets that meet current and future needs.

When is a PFTC the best solution for your family?

• Families wanting to maintain control over family business assets held in trusts
  • Family members own and control the PFTC for the family
• Families interested in keeping the family cohesive and working together across generations
  • Creates opportunity for development and control over implementation of family strategic plans—particularly a wealth strategy
• Families doing multi-generational estate planning
  • Addresses trustee succession challenges through a permanent trustee solution

The path from researching to deciding to establish a PFTC to actual operations presents a myriad of questions, all of which deserve careful consideration. Clearstead supports you with the assessment, design, implementation, and if needed, ongoing operational assistance of a PFTC.

Family Offices

Has your life become bogged down with planning for many different family entities with your accountants, financial planners, lawyers, and philanthropists? Do you need to have someone "quarterback" the moving parts? Or do you want to create a team to manage your affairs? We can help and will customize services to the needs of your family.

A typical SFO helps perpetuate the family's philosophy through the coordination of advisors—all done very confidentially. This can encompass multiple branches and generations of a family. 

Perhaps the family office’s greatest strength is the personalization and customization of services the family office staff can provide, given its focus on one client. The family office personnel can be very responsive to client requests and intimately understand the needs of the family members. Primary services typically include the following: financial planning, investment management, tax services, legal services, risk management, trusteeship, charitable giving, lifestyle management, closely held business management, concierge services, and foundation management. 

Effective governance and succession plans provide clear direction, shared vision, and codes of conduct for families, which is particularly important for families who own a family business. A family office can provide professional, private, and objective management of the family’s affairs. Clearstead helps clients develop these strategic plans to ensure the preservation of family financial, human, social, and intellectual capital.