Approach
An architecture on three axes.
Our approach rests on three axes: the five forms of family capital, the work across jurisdictions, and the preparation for the generational transition. The methodology, the forms of engagement, and the honest limits of our practice all sit on these three.
Axis I
Five forms of capital
The canonical UMFO frame. It holds one picture instead of five separate disciplines.
Each form of capital runs on its own cycle and carries its own risks. The family office’s job is to hold them in one picture over a horizon no single adviser works on.
Axis II
Working across jurisdictions
Families with capital almost always hold assets and people in more than one country. Each one runs on its own law, its own tax logic, its own risks.
Each country has its own specialists: a corporate lawyer, a tax adviser, a private banker, an accountant. Each one sees a part. None of them holds the whole picture.
Our job is to build the frame in which these advisers work together rather than in parallel. We do not replace any of them. We hold the axis on which their advice aligns.
Axis III
Preparing for the generational transition
The handover of capital and roles to the next generation. Families are going through this for the first time in their history. Our capital is young: the founders are still in full strength, but they already see the edge of what hands-on management can carry.
Preparing for the transition does not come down to a will, and it does not come down to restructuring assets. It is the work of family governance, of educating the next generation, of setting the rules of entry into the business, of clarifying roles and expectations. It cannot be compressed into a six-month engagement.
So we treat the transition as an episode in a long body of work. If the family has spent years in the same frame of capital, the handover becomes the continuation of that work, not the point at which the structure is assembled in a rush.
How we work
The work with a family takes four sequential forms. The pace is set by the family.
Introductory conversation
Thirty minutes with one of the partners. We look at whether your task and our expertise are a fit. If we are not the right practice for you, we say so and, where we can, point you to someone who is.
Diagnostic
Four to eight weeks of structured work with the family across ten areas. The output is a package of documents: a framing note, a first version of the investment policy, a stress protocol, and a list of priorities for a three-to-five year horizon. The documents stay with the family whether or not we continue together.
Plan for the horizon
After the Diagnostic, the family and UMFO build a plan for the next three to five years. What is open, in what order it is taken, what depends on events in the family or the business. The plan is reviewed once a year.
Ongoing engagement
The family office is led personally by a UMFO partner. The intensity of the work shifts with the family’s phase: at times an active governance package, at times work with the next generation, at times a quiet retainer with no active projects. An annual review with the family once a year.
What we do not do
Honest limits are part of the methodology.
We do not manage portfolios
UMFO holds no asset-manager licence and makes no decisions about specific instruments.
We take no commissions
From banks, asset managers, or insurance providers. The client is the only party who pays us.
We do not advise on specific investments
We hold the frame in which those decisions are made and work with your advisers.
No Russian-linked clients or assets
No clients or assets connected to Russian jurisdiction or sanctioned by the EU, the US, or the UK.