How to Switch Multifamily Offices Without Losing Momentum
Changing a multifamily office is a major operating decision. The right process protects continuity, clarifies responsibilities, and gives your family better information before assets, records, and relationships move. This guide explains how to plan a switch, compare providers, manage the transition, and judge results during the first year.
Why families change multifamily offices
Families usually switch offices for practical reasons. Service needs may have grown. A provider may no longer support a new country, entity, or generation. Reporting may be slow or difficult to reconcile. Investment work may not match the family’s policy. The office may have changed ownership or key personnel. Fees may also have become difficult to understand.
A switch can involve more than replacing an investment adviser. A multifamily office may coordinate portfolio management, financial planning, manager selection, tax and legal coordination, philanthropy, education, governance, and administrative work. Each service has different records, deadlines, and decision makers.
Start by writing down the reason for the change in one sentence. For example: “We need one office to coordinate consolidated reporting, investment oversight, and family governance across three jurisdictions.” This keeps the search focused. It also gives prospective firms a fair description of the work.
Do not assume that a larger firm will automatically provide better service. The best fit depends on the family’s needs, complexity, communication preferences, and willingness to delegate. A smaller office may offer direct access to senior professionals. A larger office may have more specialists and broader geographic coverage. Compare the actual operating model, not just the brand name.
Build a clear picture of your current setup
Before contacting new offices, create a transition file. List every account, legal entity, trust, partnership, foundation, pension arrangement, private investment, insurance policy, property, and major liability. Record the current custodian, adviser, administrator, ownership, reporting currency, and primary contact.
Separate assets that can move in kind from assets that may require a sale, redemption, consent, or new subscription. Public securities often transfer through a custodian process. Private funds, private credit, real estate partnerships, and direct operating interests can have transfer restrictions, notice periods, or investor eligibility requirements. Ask each existing provider for the governing documents and current transfer instructions.
Collect the agreements that control your relationship with the current office. These may include an investment advisory agreement, family office engagement letter, custody agreement, administrator agreement, private fund subscription documents, and service schedules. Review termination provisions, notice periods, unpaid invoices, reimbursable expenses, data ownership, and the process for returning records.
Create a service inventory. Mark each service as essential, useful, or no longer needed. Include the person who currently owns each task. Examples include cash forecasting, capital call tracking, bill payment, quarterly reporting, performance measurement, investment committee materials, charitable grant administration, insurance review, and family meeting preparation.
Ask the current office for a complete list of open items. Include pending capital calls, tax deliverables, distribution elections, capital account statements, valuation updates, beneficiary changes, and unresolved reconciliation issues. A switch becomes harder when the family discovers unfinished work after notice has been given.
And because the deal quality is better, things you would have said yes to last year, now you have to say no to because you're more busy. And so you have to keep on upping your standards, upping what you say no to, how you say no, how you manage your time.
Set decision criteria before taking meetings
Prepare a written scorecard before you interview firms. Use criteria that can be tested with evidence. A useful scorecard can include:
• Scope of services and clear exclusions. • Senior team involvement and backup coverage. • Experience with your entity structure and jurisdictions. • Custody, reporting, and data systems. • Investment research and manager oversight. • Conflicts of interest and related-party arrangements. • Fee calculation, pass-through expenses, and termination terms. • Cybersecurity controls and incident response. • Client references with similar complexity. • Transition plan, timeline, and named project leader.
Assign weights to the criteria. For example, reporting and operational control may matter more than access to a proprietary product. Have at least two family decision makers score each finalist separately before discussing the results. This reduces the chance that a polished presentation will dominate the decision.
Use the firm’s regulatory filings as one source of information, not as a complete assessment. In the United States, Form ADV provides information about an investment adviser’s business, ownership, clients, employees, services, fees, and disciplinary history. The SEC’s Investor.gov explains how investors can use Form ADV and adviser disclosures. SEC Investor.gov, Form ADV
Ask each finalist to show your expected annual cost under realistic asset levels, private investment activity, and service usage.
Run a disciplined search
Build a longlist from several channels. Use professional referrals, private bank and custodian contacts, estate planning advisers, independent directors, and a reputable directory. Check whether each candidate serves families with comparable complexity. A firm focused on liquid portfolios may not have the operating capacity for multiple private funds, direct businesses, or international entities.
Send finalists the same request for information. Describe the family structure at a useful level without disclosing unnecessary personal details. Request a written response covering services, staffing, technology, pricing, conflicts, custody arrangements, and transition work. Ask for sample reports with confidential information removed.
During meetings, ask the same practical questions:
• Who will answer a time-sensitive question on a normal day? • Who takes over when that person is unavailable? • How are investment recommendations documented? • How are private investment valuations collected and challenged? • How are capital calls and distributions tracked? • How quickly are reporting errors corrected? • Which services are performed by affiliates? • How are fees from underlying managers handled? • What information does the family receive after termination?
Request references from clients who have changed providers. Ask those references about the transition itself. Did records arrive on time? Were open items tracked? Did the new office understand the family’s preferences? How long did reporting take to stabilize? These answers often reveal more than a sales presentation.
Getting better and better due diligence is something really important to us and the value we want to provide to investors here. So using a due diligence questionnaire that maybe has 15 to 30 questions on it before you make an investment. And if they don't want to answer your questions, then it's an easy no.
Review fees, conflicts, and custody carefully
Ask for a complete fee schedule in writing. Separate the base family office fee from investment management fees, custodian charges, fund expenses, performance fees, project fees, travel costs, legal and tax coordination charges, and third-party technology costs. Ask whether fees are billed in arrears or advance, and whether minimums change when assets move.
Request examples at three levels of activity. One example can show a normal year. Another can show a year with several private fund commitments. A third can show a year with a large distribution, sale, or restructuring project. The purpose is to understand how costs behave when the family’s activity changes.
Review conflicts in plain language. An adviser may receive compensation from affiliated products, broker dealers, custodians, fund managers, or referral arrangements. The SEC requires registered investment advisers to disclose material conflicts in Form ADV Part 2A, commonly called the brochure. Read the brochure and ask the firm to explain any section that does not match its proposal. SEC, Investment Adviser Brochure
Clarify custody. Ask where assets will be held, who has authority to move money, how dual approval works, and how wire instructions are verified. A family office should not treat a request to change payment instructions as routine. Establish callback procedures using a known phone number and require independent confirmation for unusual transfers.
The family should retain control of its core records. The engagement agreement should state what happens to data, reports, work papers, and permissions when the relationship ends. Confirm that the new office can receive records in usable formats rather than only as locked PDF files.
Plan the transition as a project
Select a transition leader who has authority to coordinate the family, current office, new office, custodians, administrators, and outside advisers. Create a written timeline with owners and dependencies. A typical sequence includes appointment, notice, data request, account opening, transfer instructions, reporting setup, testing, cutover, and stabilization.
Use parallel work where possible. The new office can begin document collection and reporting design while account opening proceeds. The current office can prepare closing reports and open-item schedules while the new office confirms its data requirements.
Set a cutover date only after critical controls are tested. Before that date, confirm that bank instructions, approval limits, contact lists, recurring payments, capital call processes, and emergency contacts are correct. Run a sample month-end reporting cycle. Compare balances, cost basis, unfunded commitments, cash activity, and ownership records against source statements.
Keep a transition log. Track every account and deliverable, its current status, the responsible person, the next action, and the expected completion date. Include an issue register for missing documents, valuation questions, rejected transfers, and unresolved fee balances.
Tell family members what will change and when. They should know which office answers which type of question, how to submit expenses, how to approve wires, and when reports may be incomplete during the cutover. Clear communication reduces duplicate instructions and prevents people from using old contact paths after authority has changed.
Protect records and personal information
A multifamily office holds sensitive financial and personal information. Use secure portals and encrypted transfer methods. Avoid sending account statements, identity documents, or wire instructions through ordinary email unless the firm provides a secure process.
Ask the new office about multi-factor authentication, access reviews, employee training, vendor oversight, backup procedures, and incident notification. The National Institute of Standards and Technology provides a widely used cybersecurity framework for identifying, protecting, detecting, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity events. NIST, Cybersecurity Framework
Limit access according to role. A family member who needs bill payment access may not need investment committee documents. Review shared access for former employees, former advisers, household staff, and outside vendors. Change passwords and revoke permissions when the old engagement ends.
Keep an offline or independently stored copy of essential records. Include governing documents, tax records, insurance schedules, investment statements, entity documents, beneficiary designations, and prior reporting. Confirm that the family can retrieve records even if a vendor portal is unavailable.
Measure the first year
The first year should be judged on operating quality as well as investment results. Market returns depend on conditions outside the office’s control and can obscure service problems. Establish service measures at the start of the engagement.
Useful measures include reporting delivery dates, unresolved reconciliation items, response times, capital call accuracy, payment error rates, completion of account openings, and the number of repeated data requests. Review whether the office delivered the agreed services, involved the promised senior team, and explained fees consistently.
Hold formal reviews after 30, 90, and 180 days, then at least annually. At each review, compare the transition log and scorecard with actual performance. Ask what remains manual, what still depends on one person, and which reports the family does not use. Remove unnecessary work and improve the reports that support real decisions.
Review the relationship before renewal or a major mandate expansion. Confirm that the office still fits the family’s geography, entities, governance structure, and communication style. A successful switch creates a repeatable operating system. It gives the family clearer information, defined accountability, and a practical way to change course when needs evolve.
Key takeaways
- Define the reason for switching and the services the family actually needs.
- Inventory accounts, entities, contracts, open items, permissions, and transfer restrictions before selecting a new office.
- Compare finalists with a written scorecard, consistent questions, references, regulatory filings, and complete fee examples.
- Treat the move as a controlled project with a named leader, tested controls, and a detailed transition log.
- Measure the first year using service quality, reporting accuracy, accountability, and total cost, not investment returns alone.
FAQs
How long does it take to switch multifamily offices?
The timeline depends on the number of accounts, entities, jurisdictions, private investments, and services being transferred. A simple relationship may move in a few months. A complex family with private funds, operating businesses, and international structures may need longer. Set the date after account openings, data testing, approval controls, and open-item tracking are ready.
Should we move investments immediately after hiring a new office?
Usually, the move should follow a documented transition plan. Some assets may transfer in kind, while others may require consent, redemption, or a new subscription. Confirm ownership records, custody instructions, tax and legal coordination, and the treatment of private investments before making changes.
What should we ask a new multifamily office about fees?
Ask for every recurring and one-time charge, including management fees, fixed retainers, performance fees, custody costs, underlying fund expenses, project work, travel, technology, and third-party services. Request written examples for a normal year and a year with major private investment activity or a large transaction.