This white paper, authored by Glenn Kurlander, from Morgan Stanley and Laird Pitcairn Pendleton, a member of the Pitcairn family, provides key insights from working with numerous family members to set up family governance systems.

This a short guide to family governance broken down into three parts. Part 1 covers how governance can unite families across generations, what gets governance started, the role of the family assembly, and the roles of different generations in informing strong governance. Part 2 covers family councils, how to select council members, how to organize your council, and typical council activities.    Part 3 discusses governing documents such as constitutions, supplemental policies, how to write a constitution, and developing a mission and values statement.

In 2021, Morgan Stanley launched a governance study with the research help of Botoff Consulting. This report highlights feedback from 75 U.S. family offices regarding their governance approaches for family office, family governance, and investment governance.

This article discusses the Two Pillars of governance. On one side is the traditional aspects of enterprise governance while on the other is the family governance pillar. This article expands on the need for family enterprises to formalize family governance in relation to their corporate governance.

This hour-long webinar shares firsthand insights from the authors of the Two Pillars of Governance article and how to bring it into practice for a family. Dennis and Jim share insights and practical experience about the "why" and "how" of setting up the family governance pillar.