Family Council and Family Assembly: Structure and Cadence
The family council carries the family's voice into the office. The family assembly keeps the wider family informed and engaged.
Key takeaways
- —The council is small (5-9 people), elected, and decision-making.
- —The assembly is broad, inclusive, and primarily informational.
- —Council meets quarterly; assembly meets annually.
- —Both need written agendas, minutes, and clear scope.
A family council is the standing body that represents the family inside the office's governance. Membership is small — usually five to nine — drawn from across branches, often elected, and serves fixed terms. The council holds decision rights on family-policy matters: distribution policy, employment of family members, mission alignment of the office, and the appointment of family representatives to the office board.
A family assembly is broader. It convenes the wider family — adult members, sometimes spouses, sometimes next-gen — usually once a year. Its job is to inform, educate, and gather input rather than to decide. The two bodies serve different purposes and need different formats. Conflating them produces forums that are too large to decide and too narrow to inform. Separating them is the simple structural fix that pays out for decades.
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