Family Office Dispute Wealth Talks

In this episode I shall once again be joined by David Brownbill QC of XXIV Old Buildings.David is a leading Queens Counsel and has been involved in some of the most prominent recent international trust cases, including the Privy Council decisions in Schmidt vs. Rosewood and Crociani vs. Crociani.David and I will discuss Family Office Disputes.Two related aspects will be considered: (a) best practice governance safeguards and precautions to avoid internal Family Office disputes, and (b) where a dispute does occur, best practice dispute management processes and procedures.We shall evaluate both an "Unstructured Family Office", where the family retain direct personal share ownership of the Family Office, and a "Structured Family Office" where the Family Office is held by a trust.When considering an Unstructured Family Office, we shall evaluate the principal governance and dispute management tools available: (a) Shareholders Agreement, and (b) Share Class Rights or Article Amendments. We shall evaluate the pros and cons of each option, and how they may be made to work together.When considering a Structured Family Office, we shall evaluate the options available to a settlor in designing the governance framework of a Family Office Trust, and will critically examine use of the following dispute management tools and/or remedies in the context of a trust:(a) Arbitration Clause(b) Exclusive Jurisdiction Clause(c) No Contest (Sinatra) Clause(d) Restricted Rights of Access to Information(e) Bartlett Clause(f) Trustee RemovalWe shall end the talk with a summary of best practice guidance in the creation and administration of a suitable Family Office governance framework that will help to ensure the long term success of the Family Office.