Family office insurance is a coordinated set of policies designed to protect a family’s assets, liabilities, people, and operations across multiple entities and locations. It is not just homeowners, auto, and an umbrella. It is a program that matches how wealth is actually held and managed in real life.
This guide is written for both single family offices and multi family offices. If you want a quick refresher on what a family office does beyond investing, start here: How do family offices work.
This article is educational and operational. It is not legal, tax, or insurance advice.
Key Takeaways
- Family office insurance works best as a coordinated program, not a stack of unrelated policies. The main risk is not “missing a policy” but missing how entities, assets, and roles connect to coverage.
- Most gaps come from change, not negligence. New LLCs, renovated homes, new staff, new board roles, or new collectibles need a repeatable update process so coverage stays aligned.
- Renewals should be run like an operating cycle with a 90-day runway. Starting early gives you time to validate schedules, limits, and named insured details before decisions get rushed.
- Documentation is part of risk control. A clean policy inventory, a simple renewal binder, and clear ownership of the program reduce errors and shorten response time when a claim happens.
What is family office insurance
Family office insurance is the set of insurance policies and risk controls that protect:
- The family and household lifestyle risks
- The family’s assets, including property, vehicles, and collections
- The family office organization, including its staff, processes, and professional responsibilities
- The entities that hold wealth, such as trusts, holding companies, foundations, and SPVs
The goal is simple. Reduce the chance that a single event, a lawsuit, a cyber incident, or a property loss creates a large and unexpected draw on family capital.
Why family office insurance is different from standard coverage
Many high-net-worth families already have strong personal insurance. The gap appears when the family’s life looks more like a small enterprise than a household.
Here are the common “why it’s different” drivers:
Wealth is spread across entities
A family may hold assets through trusts, LLCs, partnerships, foundations, and holding companies. If coverage is written for the wrong-named insured, the claim can become complicated. Sometimes it becomes denied. Even when it pays, it may take longer and create more disputes than it should.
The asset mix is broader
The risk picture often includes multiple residences, high-value contents, collections, aircraft, yachts, ranches, and international exposures. Each category has different insurance rules and different underwriting expectations.
The people risk is larger
There may be household staff, drivers, security, domestic employees, or office employees. That introduces employment-related claims and workplace liability that typical personal policies do not handle well.
The “public profile” risk is real
Affluent families can be targets for fraud, theft, extortion, and reputational events. Even without a public profile, the financial stakes make the family attractive to criminals.
The office itself is an operating organization
A family office can face claims tied to governance, fiduciary decisions, and operational mistakes. That is why family office insurance solutions often include management liability and professional liability, not just personal lines.
Multi family office insurance vs single family office insurance
A single family office typically builds an insurance program around one family’s assets and behavior. It can be deeply customized, but it can also become overly complex if policies are accumulated over time without a central plan.
A multi family office insurance approach has an extra layer. The office must:
- Protect the MFO as a business
- Coordinate risk oversight for multiple families, without mixing information
- Standardize processes so renewals and documentation do not rely on one person’s memory
In practice, MFOs often need clearer governance, stronger internal controls, and tighter documentation, because the office is accountable to multiple households and stakeholders.
If you are deciding which operating model you are in, or how that affects responsibilities, use this guide: What is the difference between a single and multi family office.
The coverage map for family office insurance solutions
The table below is a practical starting point. Your exact program will vary. The point is to make the scope visible and easier to manage.
| Coverage area | What it protects | Common gaps | What to confirm at renewal |
| Property (primary and secondary homes) | Buildings, contents, additional living expenses | Underinsuring replacement cost, incorrectly named insured, unreported renovations | Property schedule is current, valuations updated, named insured matches the ownership |
| Flood and earthquake (where relevant) | Catastrophic events excluded from standard property | Assuming it is included, missing high-risk locations | Separate policies in place where needed, limits match exposure |
| Fine art and collectibles | Art, jewelry, watches, wine, memorabilia, collectibles | Items not scheduled, outdated appraisals, transit not covered | Updated inventory, appraisals, transit and storage coverage, valuation method |
| Auto and specialty vehicles | Autos, classic cars, high-value vehicles | Driver changes not reported, garage location mismatch | Driver list current, limits adequate, specialty vehicles covered correctly |
| Umbrella and excess liability | High-severity lawsuits over home, auto, watercraft | Umbrella does not sit over all underlying policies, entity coverage gaps | Underlying limits meet umbrella requirements, entities and trusts included where needed |
| Employment practices liability | Claims from household or office staff | Assuming homeowners cover staff disputes | Household staff and office staff exposures reviewed, correct policy is in place |
| Workers compensation | Injuries to employees in office or household | Household staff not treated as employees, state rules missed | Staff classified correctly, multi-state rules considered if needed |
| D&O and management liability | Claims tied to governance, board roles, entity management | No coverage for family office entity, board service not considered | Office entity covered, family members’ board roles reviewed, limits match exposure |
| Professional liability (E&O) | Claims tied to advice, oversight, or services | MFO providing services without E&O | Scope of services mapped, policy matches activities, exclusions understood |
| Crime and social engineering | Theft, employee dishonesty, fraudulent transfers | Assuming cyber policy covers all fraud | Wire controls reviewed, policy includes relevant fraud coverage where available |
| Cyber insurance | Data breaches, response costs, extortion events, recovery | Buying cyber without minimum controls, vendor access unmanaged | MFA, backups, access controls in place, vendor risk understood, incident plan exists |
| Aviation and marine | Aircraft and yachts, liability and physical damage | Relying on a general umbrella, missing charter or crew exposures | Hull limits, liability limits, crew coverage, navigation territory confirmed |
| Travel and kidnap extortion | Crisis response, travel risk support | No plan for high-risk travel, relying only on security vendors | Coverage and response services reviewed, contact procedures defined |
You do not need every line item. But you do need a deliberate decision for each one, even if the decision is “not relevant for us.”
How to structure an insurance program that does not break under complexity
A strong insurance program is not just a list of policies. It is a system. These steps work for both single family and multi family office insurance programs.
Step 1: Build a complete inventory
Start with a single inventory that covers:
- Assets: homes, vehicles, collections, aircraft, boats, major valuables
- Entities: trusts, LLCs, foundations, operating businesses, holding companies
- People and roles: family members, household staff, office staff, board positions
- Vendors: property managers, security, IT providers, bookkeepers, advisers
- Policies: carrier, policy number, named insured, limits, deductibles, renewal date, broker
If you do nothing else, do this. Most insurance problems are inventory problems.
Step 2: Map exposures to policies
For each major exposure, ask one question: “Which policy responds first?”
Examples:
- A guest injury at a property held by an LLC
- A household employment claim
- A fraudulent wire initiated by a spoofed email
- A data breach involving sensitive family documents
- Damage to an art piece in transit
If you cannot answer quickly, you have a gap or a documentation issue.
Step 3: Decide limits and deductibles using scenarios
Avoid choosing limits based only on “what we had last year.”
Instead, pressure test with simple scenarios:
- A severe injury event on a property
- A multi-car accident involving a household driver
- A data breach that requires legal response and notifications
- A major property loss during a period of high rebuilding costs
Deductibles should reflect what you are willing to self-fund without disruption. Limits should reflect what could realistically happen, not what is comfortable to think about.
Step 4: Reduce fragmentation
Fragmentation creates mistakes. Common fragmentation patterns:
- Different brokers for different assets
- Policies spread across multiple family members
- New entities formed, but never added to insurance schedules
- Multiple umbrellas that do not stack or coordinate cleanly
Consolidation is not always possible, but a single “insurance program owner” is. Someone must own the full map.
Step 5: Document decisions and create a renewal rhythm
When you document the “why,” you reduce future churn. It also protects the office when roles change.
Your documentation should include:
- Policy schedule and limits
- Ownership structure notes for key assets
- Why limits were chosen
- What is excluded and accepted
- Renewal calendar and responsibilities
- Claims log and lessons learned
Umbrella liability in plain language
Umbrella coverage is designed to protect against rare but large liability losses. It typically sits on top of underlying home and auto liability limits.
The “right” umbrella limit depends on risk drivers, not just wealth. A family with multiple properties, frequent guests, teen drivers, household staff, and public visibility often has more liability exposure than a family with the same net worth but fewer lifestyle risk drivers.
A practical way to choose a limit is to answer these questions:
- How many properties do we own, and how often do we host guests
- Who drives, including staff drivers and young drivers
- Do we have watercraft, aircraft, or high-speed vehicles
- Do family members serve on boards or run operating businesses
- Do we have high-profile visibility that increases the chance of claims
- Do we want the umbrella to protect entities and trusts, not just individuals
Then confirm that the umbrella actually sits over all the underlying policies you rely on. A “high limit” umbrella does not help if it is not attached correctly.
Cyber insurance and fraud coverage for family offices
Cyber risk in a family office context is not only about computers. It is about access, approvals, and money movement.
A cyber policy may help with costs tied to incident response and recovery. A crime policy may help with theft and certain fraud losses. The details vary widely. That is why the best approach is to buy coverage and improve controls at the same time.
What to clarify before you buy
- Does the policy cover personal data exposure, or only office systems
- Does it cover vendors and outsourced providers, or only your own network
- Does it cover extortion events, and what support services are included
- Does it cover fraudulent transfers and social engineering, and under what conditions
- What security controls are required, such as MFA and backups
Controls that reduce both risk and premium friction
- Multi-factor authentication on email and financial systems
- Two-person approval for large payments
- Call back verification for new wire instructions
- Least privilege access for staff and vendors
- Regular backups that are tested, not just performed
- A simple incident response plan with a contact list and decision steps
- Treat cyber as a process. Insurance is the backstop, not the primary defense.
A 90-day renewal playbook that prevents last-minute surprises
Most coverage gaps happen because renewals start too late. Use a 90-day timeline and treat it like a close process.
Renewal timeline table
| Timeframe | What to do | What you should produce |
| 90 to 60 days before renewal | Update asset and entity inventory. Review staff list and roles. Gather appraisals and schedules. Review claims and near misses. | Updated inventory, updated schedules, renewal file ready for broker |
| 60 to 30 days before renewal | Get quotes or renewal indications. Review coverage changes, exclusions, sublimits. Decide on limit and deductible changes. Confirm entity naming and additional insured needs. | Coverage decisions documented, draft policy schedule, list of open questions |
| 30 to 0 days before renewal | Bind coverage. Collect certificates and endorsements. Confirm billing and autopay where appropriate. Store final policies in a central repository. | Final program binder, renewal summary, owner assigned for midyear changes |
What to include in your “renewal binder”
- Full policy schedule, by entity and asset
- Contact list for broker, carrier, and claims reporting
- Property schedules and appraisal summaries
- Collections schedule and storage details
- Umbrella attachment map, showing underlying policies
- Cyber controls checklist and incident response plan
- List of board roles and operating business positions
This binder is what turns family office insurance solutions from “a pile of PDFs” into a controlled program.
Common mistakes and how to catch them early
Policies scattered across inboxes
If policies live in email, the office cannot manage them. Move them into a central place with consistent naming.
New entities, new risks, no update
New LLCs, new properties, new staff hires, and new board roles should automatically trigger an insurance check.
Outdated values
Properties get renovated. Collections appreciate. Replacement costs change. If valuations are stale, coverage can become mismatched.
Confusing overlap
Two policies can both seem to cover something, until they do not. Umbrella attachments and named insured details are where overlap becomes a real problem.
Buying cyber without meeting the basics
Cyber coverage is not a substitute for MFA, access control, and payment verification procedures.
Renewal under pressure
Late renewals lead to rushed decisions and missed exclusions. Start early, every year.
Where FundCount can fit, just in case
FundCount can support a family office’s insurance program more practically by keeping the financial facts and entity structure behind your policies organized and consistent.
Family offices often struggle with insurance because the source of truth is scattered. Premiums live in accounting, asset details live in spreadsheets, entity ownership lives in legal documents, and policy PDFs live in someone’s inbox.
FundCount helps by centralizing accounting and reporting across entities, so it is easier to confirm what is owned where, what it is worth, and how insurance costs flow through the structure. These are the details brokers and insurers repeatedly need for renewals, audits, and claims.
Family office insurance FAQ
What is family office insurance?
Family office insurance is a coordinated set of policies designed to protect a family’s assets, liabilities, and operations across multiple entities and locations. It usually includes both personal coverage and coverage for the family office as an organization.
What policies are most common in family office insurance solutions?
Most programs consider property, umbrella liability, collections coverage, cyber and crime, and coverage tied to staff and governance, such as employment practices liability and D&O. The right mix depends on assets, entities, and activities.
What is multi family office insurance?
Multi family office insurance usually includes coverage for the MFO business itself, such as professional liability and management liability, plus a structured process for coordinating and reviewing each client family’s personal and entity exposures. The process and documentation burden is usually higher than in a single family office.
How do we choose umbrella limits?
Start with lifestyle and exposure drivers such as number of properties, drivers, staff, board roles, and public visibility. Then confirm the umbrella attaches properly to all underlying policies and entities you want protected.
What should we do 90 days before renewal?
Update your inventory of assets, entities, and roles. Confirm valuations and schedules. Review claims and near misses. Then start the renewal process early enough to evaluate changes and exclusions without rushing.
Conclusion
Family office insurance is not about buying more policies. It is about building a program that matches how the family actually lives, owns assets, and runs operations.
When the program is structured well, you get fewer gaps, fewer surprises at claim time, and less dependence on one person’s memory. Start with a complete inventory. Build a coverage map. Run renewals on a calendar. Document decisions. That is what turns insurance solutions for family offices into a repeatable risk management system.
