Family office and multigenerational governance
Krymax Studio
The challenge
Entrepreneurial families routinely blur ownership, governance and management: decisions are made over Sunday lunch, not through bodies with clear mandates. Without shared rules, the estate stays hostage to the next succession. The public UBS / J.P. Morgan 2026 finding confirms it: 86% of family offices lack a clear succession plan for decision-makers. Concentrated capital, siblings with diverging views, a next generation not yet prepared: a single bereavement or dispute can scatter decades of value into conflict and avoidable tax. Informal arrangements that worked for one founder rarely survive the move to many owners.
Our approach
We start with an honest map of assets, roles and family expectations. We then design the governance architecture: bodies (board, investment committee), delegations and decision thresholds, and the perimeter of the family office. We formalise an Investment Policy Statement setting objectives, risk, asset allocation and constraints, and a family charter that turns values into rules on entries, exits, dividends and family roles. We draw a clean line between ownership and management and prepare the generational handover well ahead of time. Swiss method throughout: absolute discretion, documentary rigour, traceable decisions.
Why Krymax
We are a founder-led Swiss boutique of executive and operational advisory, based in Lugano with roots in Ticino, one of Europe family-office hubs alongside Geneva. We do not sell financial products: we act as an independent third party, working side by side with your lawyers, fiduciaries and banks. We combine the discipline of strategy advisory with the realism of people who have run actual structures and operations. Our thread stays Strategy, Structure, Control: governance that holds over time, outlives individuals and protects family unity beyond any single head.
Governance map: bodies, roles, delegations and decision thresholds
Investment Policy Statement with objectives, risk and asset allocation
Family charter: rules on entries, dividends, roles and succession
Family office operating model (in-house, outsourced or hybrid)
Plan to separate ownership from management
Generational handover roadmap with milestones and responsibilities
- — A generational handover is approaching and no shared plan exists
- — Capital and investment decisions without a formal body and IPS
- — Tensions between family branches over dividends, roles or control
- — Wealth has outgrown the capacity of informal management
What is the difference between a family charter and the articles of association?
The articles of association are the company legal document. The family charter is a family pact, usually not legally binding, that sets out values, entry and exit rules, dividend policy and succession principles. The two work together: we define the charter and coordinate with your lawyers so that the articles and shareholders agreements reflect its content.
Do mid-size estates also need a structured family office?
Not always a full-cost single family office. Often the right answer is a lean or hybrid model: formal governance, an IPS and slim bodies, with services outsourced to fiduciaries and banks. We size the structure to the actual wealth and complexity, avoiding both under-governance and disproportionate cost.
Do you replace our advisors, banks or fiduciaries?
No. We act as an independent third party and do not sell financial products. Our role is to design governance and coordinate your existing counterparts, keeping the family at the centre of decisions. We stay alongside through implementation until the bodies and rules genuinely work.