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This case study, coauthored by Pitcairn and Oakbrook Solutions, discusses the value proposition of data architecture to the Pitcairn family office. With many family offices striving to provide better quality client reporting experiences, this study will provide lessons learned and some insight on the value of client data and its stewardship and governance.

The validity of a corporation’s S election is a primary consideration with respect to federal and state tax return compliance and due diligence efforts. For an S election to be valid, a corporation must satisfy strict eligibility requirements. Among these requirements, a corporation must (1) have no more than 100 shareholders, (2) have only permissible shareholders, and (3) have only one class of stock. Businesses operating as an S corporation should make sure they are familiar with these requirements in order to avoid an inadvertent termination of their S election.

For family members working in the business, the area of compensation overlaps with contentious considerations of fairness, equality, performance-management and long term engagement. This artcle itemises how families have approached this issue, and advocates some pathways to avoid disharmony.

The US Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion issued June 19, 2014, implemented a new standard for courts to employ in determining if a taxpayer may challenge whether the Internal Revenue Service has issued a summons in good faith. In light of the Service’s new procedures for administering Information Document Requests, including the potential for summons enforcement, this opinion provides important guidance to taxpayers who may find themselves in the midst of a summons enforcement action.

In this news alert, the author, Perkins Coie, highlights that the SEC is expected to allow two separate exemptive orders being sought from the Family Office Rule with respect to distaff members of a family under the Investment Advisors Act.Because the distaff issue has the potential to affect so many single-family offices, the author believes this is a welcome development, and it is hoped that the SEC will amend the Family Office Rule to make this additional exemptive relief available to every single-family office that has a distaff issue now or in the future.

The loss of a spouse to either death or divorce is one of the most traumatic experiences anyone can go through. Life will change irrevocably in many ways for the surviving spouse or separated partners. This article reviews often-neglected steps that may lessen the burden and financial issues that you and/or your spouse may face when this painful loss occurs. So-called “widow planning”—applying equally to widowers and to contingency plans for divorce—is an essential part of any couple’s financial preparedness.

It is frequently suggested that that family offices should mimic institutions and adopt an institutionally disciplined and process-oriented approach when managing their investment portfolios. Through a process-oriented approach, institutions and family offices can be more effective and produce more efficient long-term results.