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Family transitions are not only difficult, but potentially explosive. Younger family members often have a high sense of anxiety because they don't know what will happen next. At the same time, those in control may be unaware that others aren't happy. Mounting tensions can cause families to delay change as long as possible, often compounding the problems.

Cousins Michael, Richard and David Horvitz told the story of their family, the birth and evolution of their individual family offices and their differing approaches to investing family assets. They also spoke of the challenges of transitioning from a trustee's office to a sibling's office and the lessons they learned along the way.

Financial families who have accumulated great wealth face unique challenges associated with passing that wealth productively to future generations, and/or philanthropic recipients. Being invested together in multiple financial and business opportunities requires a sophisticated structure for managing the family’s financial enterprise.

On April 25, Mario Morino, Chairman of the Morino Group and Venture Philanthropy Partners, spoke to the FOX Concepts in Strategic Philanthropy Special Interest Group.

In our 1st Quarter 1991 newsletter, FOX interviewed the Laird Norton family office, which at that time had become a Private Trust Company and had been serving outside clients for several years. Now a firmly established Multifamily Office, Larid Norton discusses how their firm has evolved.

Interview with Marianne Wilder Young, president of the Market Street Trust Company.

One tradition that some FOX members take quite seriously is that of documenting their family’s, company’s and even family office’s history. To assist other FOX members who haven’t yet decided upon the best means of accomplishing this challenge, we talked with two family group, the Richardson Family and the Laird Norton Family, who have done an extraordinary job of preserving their history for future generations.

The SO is a little known vehicle that can be used by families to give back to their communities during their lifetimes, especially if they want to use stock in their family businesses to fund the gifts. The SO is described in IRC Section 509(a)(3).

The death of a matriarch. The sale of a family business. Big events can throw a financial family into flux. Tough transitions can be managed smoothly, however. Three industry experts gave practical advice on transitions to an audience of about 300 family members and office executives at the FOX Fall Forum, held in October at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago.

Family giving can be wonderfully gratifying as well as a bit messy. That goes double when several generations with different agendas run the family foundation. At the FOX Fall Forum, family members and foundation executives engaged in a lively discussion on how to effectively address questions related to family philanthropy.