Family office services: who does the work?

Investment policy establishes the objectives and constraints against which decisions are made. Manager oversight concerns selecting and reviewing the people investing the assets. Discretionary portfolio management grants authority to make investment decisions within the agreed mandate; a non-discretionary arrangement leaves approval with the client. Tiedemann Advisors' March 2026 relationship summary describes both forms of investment engagement. 1 2

Administration is a different responsibility. Recording a bill, securing approval, releasing payment and reconciling the account are separate steps. Specify who handles each one, the applicable limits and who reviews exceptions. Corient's Personal CFO menu illustrates why this matters: its expanded offering adds bank-account signing authority to a broader administrative scope. 3

Apply the same distinction to tax and estate work. Collecting records and coordinating advisers does not establish responsibility for preparing a tax return or drafting a trust document. Ask which professional performs the work, which entity contracts for it and who follows the resulting deadlines. Pathstone's current menu, for example, includes tax and estate-related capabilities while warning that some services involve third parties and separate agreements. 4

For reporting, define the boundary of “consolidated.” Ask which investment accounts, private assets, entities, debts and cash flows appear, how outside information is obtained and what the report leaves out. A reporting service should be assessed against that stated coverage, rather than the word alone.

Family governance concerns how a family makes and records decisions: who participates, who has authority and how responsibilities change over time. Education prepares family members to understand the decisions they will face. Campden Wealth/RBC treats governance, family dynamics, succession and education as parts of family-office work. 1

Turn these broad descriptions into deliverables. Will the engagement include scheduled meetings, preparation of agendas and records, individual education sessions or continuing follow-up? Who will lead difficult discussions? Who will coordinate any changes that require attorneys, trustees or other decision-makers? These questions distinguish an occasional workshop from ongoing responsibility.

The phrase can cover very different work. Corient's expanded Personal CFO menu lists domestic-staff support, lifestyle management and property-related work. Pathstone's current menu includes lifestyle and property services, health support and global care, subject to its third-party delivery qualification. These descriptions establish stated capabilities; they do not establish that the provider employs every specialist or directly operates every asset. 3 4

Name the task. Hiring support differs from being the employer. Reviewing a property budget differs from supervising repairs. Introducing a travel specialist differs from booking and managing travel. For each service, establish who contracts with the vendor, supervises the work, handles failures and approves spending.

If household operations are the main need, ask for an operating proposal that assigns those responsibilities. A general wealth-planning proposal may leave them unresolved.

Several entities can sit behind one brand. Corient's US disclosure identifies separate family-office, tax, trust and aviation affiliates and says family-office and tax services can involve separate agreements and additional fees. A statement that a group offers a service therefore needs an entity and delivery check. 5

Pathstone's March 2025 brochure describes in-house professional services, while its current capabilities page says third parties may deliver some services under separate agreements. WE Family Offices describes advice, reporting and work across a network of outside providers. These are different arrangements, and the selected engagement controls the responsibilities. 6 4 7

Representative provider service matrix

Three unranked examples illustrate documented differences in delivery. Rows are alphabetical, with no numerical scoring or finding about service quality. Sources were checked October 19, 2026. A listed capability is not necessarily included in every agreement. Read the methodology.

Delivery key: In-house means the source describes the provider performing the work. Advice / oversight means the documented role is advisory or supervisory. Affiliate identifies a separate related entity. Outside provider coordinated means the source describes work with an external specialist. Not disclosed means the reviewed materials do not establish the service or its delivery arrangement, as specified in the cell; it does not mean the service is unavailable. A brand-level capability does not by itself identify the employer or contracting entity.

A referral also differs from continuing coordination. If a provider introduces an accountant, attorney or household specialist, ask whether it will track that specialist's work after the introduction, or whether responsibility returns to the family.

Mayfair evidence note: Mayfair's matching company profile uses “Private Family Office” and “By introduction only.” Its website could not be retrieved during this research, leaving service delivery unverified; there is insufficient public evidence here for a service-by-service comparison. 11 See the directory entry.

An office can hire its own staff, use a shared provider, retain outside specialists or combine those approaches. The Campden Wealth/RBC 2026 taxonomy distinguishes standalone, embedded and virtual single-family offices as well as family-owned and commercial multi-family arrangements. Those descriptions explain organization; they do not assign every service automatically. 1

A dedicated team still needs a defined remit and supervision. A shared provider may assign particular staff or use affiliates. An existing office may outsource one function while keeping the rest. In each case, identify who employs the people, contracts with specialists, owns the records and has authority to decide. These facts are more useful than assuming that a model's name guarantees a particular level of service.

Compare fees on the same scope. Corient discloses potentially separate agreements and extra charges for affiliate family-office and tax services. Pathstone's current menu also says some services may involve third parties and separate agreements. The relevant question is what the proposed fee covers and what the family would continue to buy elsewhere. 5 4

Understand family-office models or compare costs and fee boundaries.

• Which recurring tasks and deadlines will appear in the written scope?
• For each task, will your employees perform it, will an affiliate do it, or will you coordinate an outside specialist?
• Who is responsible for follow-up and resolving unfinished work?
• Who employs household and office staff, and who supervises them?
• Who can approve an invoice, release payment, sign on an account or change a vendor's banking instructions?
• Which decisions require the family's prior approval?
• Who prepares and signs tax returns, legal documents and financial reports?
• What does consolidated reporting include, and how are outside records checked?
• Which services require another agreement or an additional fee?
• What happens to records, staff arrangements, systems and unfinished work if the engagement ends?