A family office is a structure built to receive, govern, and grow a family's wealth, not a person you hire. We've built these end to end, including for a founder whose payout landed six weeks after the structure was commissioned. Same discipline, applied before the money arrives.
What a family office actually is
The term covers a wide range: a single-family office (SFO) serving one family exclusively, a multi-family office (MFO) serving several, or, more often at the point of first setup, a single holding vehicle plus a small set of governance documents. What makes it a family office rather than "a wealth manager" is that the family owns and controls the structure itself, not just the advice running through it. That ownership is also why the structure decision comes first: it's a tax, control, and succession decision made simultaneously, not three separate ones.
Why the structure decision can't wait
Most family offices get built reactively, after a liquidity event has already happened, a family business is already in transition, or assets are already scattered across entities and countries. Every one of those situations is harder and more expensive to structure after the fact than before it. The families who avoid that cost are the ones who treat the structure as infrastructure to commission ahead of the event, not a project to start once the money has already landed.
The six decisions that set up a family office
In order, and each with its own page: choosing the entity and vehicle, setting it up and registering it, choosing how the family's capital is actually invested, building the succession and governance framework around it, getting the tax and cross-border position right, and putting in place the reporting that keeps it running quietly.
01
Structure & Vehicle
Trust, LLP, company, Section 8, or a hybrid, chosen for control, succession, and tax together.
02
Setup & Registration
Trust registration, incorporation, and the 12AB/80G path if philanthropy is part of the structure.
03
Investment Strategy
AIF, PMS, or direct holding, matched to how the family actually wants to invest.
04
Succession & Governance
Wills, family constitution, and an investment committee that outlasts any one person.
05
Tax & Cross-Border
RNOR planning, LRS, and DTAA positioning for families spread across India, the GCC, and the US.
06
Reporting & Operations
One consolidated view of the whole balance sheet, and the compliance calendar behind it.
Proof, not a pitch
A family office, built before the money landed
Founders after a liquidity event
Prefer a packaged starting point? See the Family Office Launchpad →
Common questions
What is a family office?
A structure the family itself owns and controls to receive, govern, and grow its wealth. That ownership is what distinguishes it from simply hiring a wealth manager: the family owns the vehicle, not just the advice running through it.
What legal structure should a family office use in India?
Most real family offices combine more than one vehicle: a private trust for succession, an LLP or company for active investment, and a Section 8 company if philanthropy is a formal part of the structure. See our Structure & Vehicle page.
How should a family office actually invest its capital?
It depends on the goal: AIF Category II for pooled private-markets access, PMS for a segregated discretionary portfolio, direct holding for full control, or a GIFT City Family Investment Fund for global-scale families above roughly $10 million.
What is RNOR status and why does it matter for a family office?
Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) status lets a returning family member keep foreign-sourced income outside Indian tax for up to 3 years after return, a real, time-limited planning window that has to be sequenced before the move, not after.
Does a family office need to register with SEBI in India?
No. A family office that manages only the family's own money isn't required to register with SEBI as an investment advisor, portfolio manager, or AIF, though the underlying investment vehicles it uses may carry their own registration requirements.
Family office insights
AIF vs PMS, for family offices
What actually distinguishes an AIF from a PMS, and which fits a family office at different stages.
Read the briefing →
RNOR status, the missed planning window
A real, time-limited tax planning window for returning NRIs, and why it has to be sequenced before the return, not after.
Read the briefing →Talk to us about your family office.
Bring the situation, however incomplete; leave with a written, fixed-fee plan for the structure, on the same calendar as everything else we file for you.