Family Meeting™

One of our principles of legacy planning that is the cornerstone of our business, is that legacy planning is a family affair. We challenge our clients with the question, “Are you planning with your family or at your family?”

Over the years many families have told us that they have a desire to develop a legacy plan with their children, but they don’t know how to approach a subject often perceived to cause anxiety within the family. In response, we designed our process to meet that need. The Family Meeting™ is a proven and successful format for families to learn effective legacy-planning concepts and begin the process to take action.


The Family Meeting™ Process Overview

The Family Meeting™ is a forum for the exchange of ideas, hopes, and dreams. With our guidance, using some written exercises and discussion, the collective wisdom of the family is identified. The family looks at the past with gratitude and appreciation to craft the vision for their future. By upholding and honoring family relationships, a legacy plan is developed that recognizes and honors the unique strengths of each family member for the benefit of all.

We serve families with good relationships, who have or would like to experience better communication skills around issues of money and wealth. It is an opportunity for families to develop confidence through dialogue and listening. As a result, families create and author their legacy plan from their shared values and vision.


The Family Meeting™ Steps

1. Determine your expectations and goals
2. Review the Principles of Legacy Planning
3. Family Review
   • Where did we come from?
   • Where are we headed?
4. Identify values and virtues
   • Personal
   • Family
5. Recognize unique abilities/skills/gifts
   • Personal
   • Family
6. Envision the future
7. Discuss the special concerns of your family
8. Create the steps for the responsible transition of wealth
9. Define how to preserve your wealth and share it with others
10. Engage the advisory team
11. Complete the Tree of Gifts: steps to gifting
12. Create the appropriate containers of wealth
13. Define all tax liabilities; reduce/eliminate all taxes associated with wealth transition
14. Build your recommended plan

“I am amazed at how an effective plan can satisfy one’s personal goals while improving the quality of life at the same time.”
- prior attendee