Family wealth as a human system | Wealth Office
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Themes / No. 4

Family wealth as a human system

Families as systems of relationships, emotion and trust, where governance and succession succeed or fail on human terms.

Theme hub

Behind every structure for holding wealth sits a family, with its relationships, expectations and disagreements. Wealth Office guests return to this point often. Marshall Jen argues that families fight over emotion more than ownership, and that the highest level of governance is mutual trust. Philip Marcovici, drawing on more than four decades of advising families, says any amount of wealth can destroy a family and that culture is too often used as an excuse to avoid succession planning. Allen Law describes a family rule that each member leads a business unit, and William Louey explains why he employed a chief executive and became a figurehead. Gary Hersham and Irina Gamagina observe that even the choice of a home is a family decision. This theme collects those observations on governance, communication and preparation, and on what guests believe keeps a family intact across generations.

The essay

Why families fight over emotion, and what keeps them together

Marshall Jen, Philip Marcovici, Allen Law and William Louey explain why trusts alone rarely prevent disputes, and how communication, roles and trust hold families together.

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