When your family’s affairs span homes, investment properties, businesses and other assets, the insurance can become fragmented surprisingly quickly.
One policy may sit in a family member’s name, another may be held by a company or trust, while a business interest has its own separate insurance program. None of those arrangements is necessarily wrong. The question is whether they still make sense when you look at them together.
That is often where a family office insurance review becomes useful. Rather than starting with a list of policies, it helps to look at how the family operates today.
What do you own? Which assets sit in different entities? Which family members hold formal roles? Are there employees supporting the family office? Have you acquired property overseas or added new business interests?
Insurance should follow those changes rather than lag behind.
The aim isn’t to force everything into one policy. It’s to understand how the different arrangements fit together.
Different assets, different considerations
A large part of the insurance program can begin with the assets themselves. That may include homes, prestige vehicles or collections. Assets should be considered in context, for example, collections may move between properties or change significantly in value over time.
It is easy for insurance to become piecemeal. One building is added, then another, each with a different renewal date and perhaps a different insurer. Looking at the portfolio as a whole can sometimes reveal things that are difficult to see when every property is treated as a separate transaction.
The People Around the Family Office
Insurance is not only about assets. If your family office employs staff, you may also need to think about the roles those people perform. Some employees may handle administration. Others may coordinate property, support family members or work across several family interests.
Workers compensation requirements apply according to the relevant state or territory, but other insurance considerations depend much more on what the role actually involves.
Management liability may become relevant in some structures. If employees provide professional services to other entities or third parties, there may also be a professional liability exposure. The job title alone does not tell you very much. It is the work being performed that matters.
The same applies to family members who hold formal positions. You may be a director of a family business, sit on the board of another organisation or act as a trustee. Those responsibilities are separate from simply owning an asset. Before arranging any new cover, it is worth finding out what protection is already in place through the organisation concerned. A company may already have directors and officers insurance. A trust may have different arrangements again.
If you are unsure about the legal responsibilities attached to a role, that question belongs with your lawyer or other appropriate adviser. Your insurance adviser can then explain how any relevant policy may respond.
Roles can change
the insurance picture.
Family offices often hold highly sensitive information. That may include details about assets, financial arrangements or personal information about family members. The cyber exposure is not limited to a network attack. Email compromise can create a problem, particularly where payments or confidential instructions are involved. Cyber insurance can provide protection for certain financial losses and liabilities following insured cyber events. However, it should sit alongside appropriate IT and cyber-security controls.
Simply managing your own family’s affairs does not automatically create the same professional indemnity exposure as providing services to clients. The position can change if the family office begins providing professional services to other entities or third parties. For example, a family office may undertake work for related businesses or provide services beyond its own internal administration. That is where the nature of the activity becomes important.
As the Family Changes
Family arrangements rarely stay still. Children may acquire property, become involved in the family business or take on board positions. Assets can move between family members or ownership structures. New businesses may be acquired while others are sold.
Those transitions can affect insurance even when the underlying asset itself looks unchanged. For example, a home transferred into another ownership structure is still the same home. However, the insurance may need to reflect the new owner. A family member may join a board and create a new insurance consideration. These are useful moments to review the arrangements rather than waiting for every policy to renew independently.
Working With Your Existing Advisers
A family office usually already has a strong network of advisers. You may work closely with lawyers, accountants, investment advisers or other specialists. We do not try to replace them. Our role is to understand enough about the family’s structure and activities to advise on insurance and risk transfer.
Reviewing Your Family Office Insurance
An insurance review does not have to mean replacing everything. You may already have very good insurance in place. The useful question is whether the arrangements still reflect your current circumstances. Perhaps a business has been sold or a new property acquired overseas. The family office may now employ people or provide services it did not provide when the policies were originally arranged.
If you would like a second opinion, Clear Insurance can review the arrangements from an insurance and risk-transfer perspective and explain where there may be gaps, duplication or areas worth examining more closely. The decision about what you insure remains yours.
A Few Questions Family Offices Ask Us
Do you need a special type of insurance?
Not usually. There is no single policy that suits every family. The insurance tends to reflect the assets, activities and people involved. The value comes from understanding how those separate arrangements fit together.
Should all of our assets be insured through one broker?
Not necessarily. There can be advantages in having someone who understands the broader picture. However, specialist insurance or overseas assets may sometimes be better handled through another provider or local adviser. Coordination is usually more important than consolidation.
Does a family office need professional indemnity insurance?
It depends on what the family office does. Managing your family’s affairs does not automatically create the same professional liability exposure as providing services to clients. If professional services are provided to other parties, the position may be different.
What insurance should directors or trustees have?
Start by finding out what insurance is already provided through the company, trust or organisation. If you are unsure about the legal responsibilities attached to the role, obtain legal advice first. Your insurance adviser can then explain how any relevant insurance may respond.
How do you handle confidential family information?
We understand that family offices can hold highly sensitive information. Clear Insurance handles personal information in accordance with its privacy obligations and shares information where necessary to provide or administer insurance services, obtain terms or comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
If we, or an insurer, request information and you are unsure why it is needed, ask before providing it.
Talk to Clear About Your Family Office Insurance
You do not need to have every insurance question worked out before speaking with us. Often the starting point is simply understanding what you already have and what has changed.
Clear Insurance can help you review the arrangements, explain how the policies fit together and identify areas that deserve closer attention.
Important Information: This page provides general information only and does not consider your family office’s specific circumstances, financial position or objectives. Coverage examples are illustrative only. Insurance requirements and policy responses depend on the individual assets, activities and wording of relevant policies. Ownership structures, trustee obligations, succession arrangements and international interests can involve legal or tax considerations. Appropriate professional advice should be obtained where required. Questions relating to investment advice, financial planning or financial-services licensing should be referred to the appropriate qualified adviser. Different disclosure obligations can apply depending on the type of insurance being arranged. You should answer insurer questions accurately and provide information where required. Your adviser can explain the obligations that apply to the particular insurance being considered. View our Financial Services Guide for details about our services and our Privacy Policy regarding confidentiality. Clear Insurance Pty Ltd | ABN 41 601 916 689 | AFSL No. 548953
Last updated: 16 September 2026