Family offices are privately owned entities established by affluent families to manage their wealth, plan for their families' financial future, engage in investment opportunities and provide other services to family members. Family offices can be formally structured or operated informally. In recent years, families of wealth have come to realize the many benefits of establishing a structured family office, including enhanced control, privacy and customization of their asset allocation, wealth and risk management, and an overall legacy plan.
Day Pitney routinely represents family offices, with a focus on single-family offices (SFOs), and their executives and family principals in a wide variety of complex matters. Our family office clients, which are based in the United States and abroad, have significant investable assets spread globally across numerous asset classes.
Our Family Office team includes experienced attorneys from multidisciplinary practices who serve the many needs of family offices. We are well versed in handling issues such as formation and structuring of SFOs (and their subsidiaries and affiliates), sophisticated tax planning, wealth transfer strategies, liability mitigation, risk management, and highly customized structuring of investments throughout the capital structure and across the alternative asset landscape.
Day Pitney brings to our family office clients the same skills and marketplace intelligence used to negotiate and structure our institutional investor clients' allocations to hedge, private equity and real estate funds. We also have significant experience in aircraft financing and private air charter fractional ownership programs, fine art financing, and wine investing.
Our services to family offices span a number of areas, including:
- Corporate and M&A – Regularly counsel clients in connection with establishing U.S. business operations and business partnerships; company asset sales, acquisitions and financings, including debt and equity investments in portfolio companies; and advice with portfolio company initial public offerings (IPOs) and related stock sales.
- Private Equity, Hedge and Real Estate Funds – Have extensive experience with client allocations to third-party fund managers, including performing manager due diligence; negotiating and preparing side letters; negotiating prime brokerage agreements and International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and futures account agreements; and negotiating and documenting separately managed accounts, single-investor funds and special classes of funds.
- Trust and Estate Planning – Assist clients, with the strong backing of our renowned Private Client department, in all trust- and estate-related matters, including domestic and international trust and estate planning; advice on setting up not-for-profit organizations/foundations created by individuals, families or their companies; and advice on large charitable donations/legacies, gifts and other tax-exempt transactions.
- Tax – Offer clients state, federal and international tax counsel, including providing advice regarding Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) and U.S. disclosure requirements, tax optimization, and asset protection structuring for family offices.
- Residential and Commercial Real Estate – Represent clients in all real estate-related purchases, sales, leases and other agreements; development projects; and property improvement third-party contracts.
- Regulatory and Compliance – Advise clients on regulatory matters, including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and state registration, deregistration and reporting requirements and exemptions; provide regulatory advice regarding interest rate and currency swaps and various hedging transactions; and prepare and file ownership reports, including Forms 3, 4 and 5 and Schedules 13D and 13G, under the Exchange Act.
- Finance/Lending – Represent clients in the negotiation of credit facilities secured by artwork, aircraft, private fund interests and other alternative assets.
- Employment and Employee Benefits – Assist clients with all their employment and employee benefits needs, including drafting employment and equity incentive agreements (as well as separation agreements) for senior managers and their portfolio companies; equity ownership buyouts; and for-cause and good-reason terminations.
- Litigation and Dispute Resolution – Represent clients, as plaintiffs and defendants, in personal and business litigation, including partnership disputes, tax and real estate controversies, contractual disagreements, and intellectual property issues.
RECOGNITION*
Named "Law Firm of the Year," in the "Best Law Firms" Trusts and Estates Law category by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers®, 2021
Named a Finalist for "Legal Team of the Year," by Family Wealth Report, 2021
Shortlisted for "Best Law Firm - Estates and Trusts" by Private Asset Management Awards, 2021
Shortlisted for "USA Private Client Team of the Year – East Coast," by Chambers HNW (Chambers & Partners), 2020
Named "Best Law Firm – Estates and Trusts" by Private Asset Management, 2020
Shortlisted for "Legal Team of the Year," by Family Wealth Report, 2019
Named "Law Firm of the Year" by Family Wealth Report, 2017
Finalist in "Accounting, CPA or Law Firms Serving Family Offices" category for Family Wealth Alliance Best in the Industry Awards, 2018
Shortlisted in two categories, "Best Private Client Law Firm" and "Best Trusts and Estates Division," by Private Asset Management (PAM), 2018
Shortlisted in two categories, "Legal Team of the Year" and "Family Wealth Counseling," by Family Wealth Report, 2018
Named a Family Office "Industry Awards" Finalist by Wealth Management
Ranked as "Highly Commended" in categories for "Best Private Client Law Firm" by Private Asset Management (PAM), 2017, 2019
Shortlisted for "Law Firm of the Year" by Family Wealth Report, 2016
Ranked Nationwide, and Band 1 in Private Wealth Law, CT and MA, by Chambers HNW (Chambers & Partners), 2016-2020
Ranked Band 1 in Wealth Management, Nationwide, by Chambers USA (Chambers & Partners), 2010-2016
*No aspect of these advertisements have been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. See Awards Methodology.
AFFILIATIONS
Family Office Association, Resource Council Member
