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Library guide · Family Offices

How Do You Start a Family Office?

The steps to setting up a family office, from the threshold and legal structure to the team and the regulatory exemption.

Last updated 8 August 2026 · 2 min read

You start a family office by deciding what it is for, confirming the wealth justifies it (commonly around 100 million dollars or more), creating a legal entity owned by the family, hiring a small core team, and putting reporting and governance in place, all structured to keep the single-family exemption from investment-adviser registration. Below that threshold, a multi-family or virtual office is usually the right first step.

Key takeaways

  • Start with the decision, not the entity: define what the office is for (investing, governance, succession) before building anything.
  • Common threshold is roughly 100 million dollars; below it, a multi-family or virtual office is usually the right first step.
  • The core is a legal entity owned by the family, a small team (often a CEO or CIO plus a CFO), and a structure that preserves the single-family regulatory exemption.

Starting a family office is less about paperwork than about decisions. The families who do it well settle what the office is for before they build it; the ones who struggle buy systems and hire staff first, then discover they never agreed on what the office was supposed to do.

Step 1: Decide what it is for, and whether you need one

Define the purpose (investing, governance, succession, philanthropy) and the decision rights: who can commit capital, who signs, what escalates to the principal. Then confirm the scale justifies it. A dedicated single-family office typically makes sense from around 100 million dollars in wealth, and closer to 250 million for a full-service one, because running costs start near 1 million a year. Below that, start with a multi-family office or a virtual model.

Step 2: Build the legal structure

Almost every family office sits inside a legal entity, usually a company or management vehicle owned by the family's trusts or holding structure. This wrapper matters for control, tax and, crucially, regulation. In the US, an office that advises only one family is generally exempt from registering as an investment adviser, an exemption that breaks the moment it takes an outside client, so the structure must be built to preserve it.

Step 3: Hire the core team

The team is the cost, and the cost is mostly people, 60 to 70 percent of the budget. A lean office can run with a core of two to four: typically a CEO or chief investment officer paired with a CFO or controller, with legal, tax and other specialists outsourced. Scope and headcount grow with the fortune.

Step 4: Put systems and governance in place

Consolidated reporting (one honest picture of everything the family owns), custody, compliance, and the governance forums through which the family makes joint decisions. These are what turn a team into an organisation that survives its founders.

The honest first question

Most families who think they need a family office need something cheaper first. Building a full office on too small a base means fixed costs quietly eating returns. Start with the model the fortune can support, and grow into a dedicated office when complexity, not vanity, demands it.

Frequently asked questions

How do you start a family office?
Define its purpose and decision rights, confirm the wealth justifies it (commonly around 100 million dollars or more), create a legal entity owned by the family, hire a small core team, put reporting and governance systems in place, and structure it to keep the single-family exemption from investment-adviser registration.
How much money do you need to start a family office?
Advisers most commonly cite around 100 million dollars in wealth to justify a dedicated single-family office, and closer to 250 million for a full-service one, because annual running costs typically start near 1 million. Below that, a multi-family or virtual office delivers similar services for far less.
What is the first step to setting up a family office?
Deciding what it is actually for. Families who choose the software and staff before defining decision rights, service scope and governance end up automating their confusion. Purpose and structure come first; vendors and hires come second.

This guide is educational and general in nature. It does not constitute investment, legal, tax or financial advice.