Family meeting trustee: support for meetings and succession planning

A family meeting trustee does not run the family. The trustee holds the trust assets, owes duties to all beneficiaries and takes the decisions the trust deed gives to the trustee. What a trustee can do, alongside that role, is give the family a reliable setting in which to talk: a prepared agenda, a neutral chair or secretary, written minutes and a clear line between what is discussed and what is decided.

This page explains how that support works in Switzerland, what it covers and what it leaves out. It is general information, not advice: the right format depends on where family members live, who the beneficiaries are, what the trust owns and what the deed says.

Why families ask their trustee for meeting support

Most trusts start with one settlor and a clear purpose. Years later, the beneficiaries may be adult children, grandchildren, spouses and in-laws spread across several countries. Each has a different picture of what the trust is for. Without a shared forum, questions surface as private complaints, sudden requests for distributions or letters to the trustee that arrive from several directions at once.

A regular meeting does three practical things:

• it gives the settlor a place to explain the intentions behind the structure, which the trustee can then reflect in the file;
• it lets beneficiaries ask questions in one room rather than through a string of separate exchanges;
• it gives the trustee a record of the family's views to weigh when exercising discretion.

The last point matters. In a discretionary trust the trustee remains the decision-maker. Family views inform that decision; they do not bind it unless the deed says so.

What the service covers

The family governance service is built around the rules, councils and meetings that let several generations work with one trust. In practice it can include:

• A family council and its terms of reference. Who sits on it, how often it meets, what it may recommend and what stays with the trustee.
• A written family charter. A short statement of shared values and working rules: how members raise concerns, how information is shared, what is expected of those who receive distributions.
• Design of a protector committee, where the trust uses a protector and the family wants more than one voice in that role. See working with a protector for the powers and limits involved.
• An education programme for younger members. Introductions to what a trust is, how the trustee reports, and what responsibility looks like for a future beneficiary.
• A process for handling disputes, so that disagreement has a defined path before it becomes a formal claim.

It does not include legal representation of any family member, tax advice for a particular country, investment advice to individual beneficiaries or a change to the trust deed. Where a meeting points to one of those needs, the trustee says so and the family takes separate advice.

The first family meeting

The usual entry point is the first meeting. It is deliberately modest. The aim is not to settle everything but to agree how the family will talk.

Preparation normally covers:

1. who is invited, and in what capacity (settlor, beneficiary, protector, adviser);
2. which documents everyone may see, based on what the deed and the law allow;
3. a short agenda circulated in advance;
4. who chairs and who takes the minutes;
5. what the meeting cannot decide.

Example (fictional). A family established in Lausanne has a trust created by the grandmother. Her two adult children live in different countries and the three grandchildren are at university or early in their careers. The trustee proposes a single afternoon with one agenda: a plain-language review of the trust's purpose, a summary of how decisions are taken, an open session for questions and an agreement on the next meeting. No distribution is discussed. The grandchildren leave knowing who the trustee is, what the trust is for and how to raise a concern.

A meeting cycle over one year

Once the first meeting has worked, families tend to settle into a yearly rhythm. The sequence below is typical; the actual shape is set with the family.

Minutes: what they should and should not say

Minutes are the part families underestimate. Good minutes record who attended, what was presented, which questions were asked, what the trustee undertook to do and which topics were deferred. They separate three things: information given, views expressed and decisions taken.

They should not turn into an account of every remark, and they should not read as if the family decided something that only the trustee can decide. A sentence such as "the family expressed a preference" is accurate; "the family approved the distribution" usually is not.

Minutes also protect the trustee and the beneficiaries. If a later question arises about why a decision was taken, the record shows what the trustee knew and when. They sit well with the wider information duties described in what information your trustee must give you and with the trustee's duties towards the beneficiaries.

Letters of wishes and meetings

A settlor's letter of wishes guides the trustee but is not usually binding. Family meetings are a natural place to check whether the letter still reflects the settlor's thinking. The trustee can note, without disclosing the letter to everyone, that it will be reviewed after the meeting and updated if the settlor wishes.

Keeping the trustee's neutrality

A trustee who attends family meetings must stay even-handed. That is harder in a blended family, where interests differ sharply, or when one beneficiary cannot manage money well and others want to step in. The trustee's task is to hear everyone, explain the framework and keep the record accurate, not to take sides.

The relationship between the trustee, a protector and the beneficiaries is covered in the trustee, protector and beneficiary triangle. Where adult children want to see accounts, a fictional illustration appears in adult children ask for accounts.

Swiss and international legal context

Meetings are practice, not law, but they sit inside a legal frame. Switzerland ratified the Hague Convention on the law applicable to trusts and on their recognition, and it entered into force for Switzerland on 1 July 2007. Article 15 of the Convention leaves in place mandatory rules of the forum on matters such as inheritance rights, protection of minors and incapable persons, and effects of marriage. A family discussing succession planning around a trust should therefore expect those rules to be reviewed individually.

The revised Swiss succession law has applied since 1 January 2023, and the Federal Office of Justice presents it as allowing a person to dispose freely of a larger part of their assets. Whether and how that affects a particular trust depends on the settlor's residence, the beneficiaries and the assets. The meeting is the place to identify the question; an individual legal analysis answers it.

What the confidential assessment establishes

The assessment looks at your trust and family as they are today. It can establish whether the deed allows the governance you have in mind, whether a council or protector committee would sit comfortably with the trustee's powers, who should attend a first meeting, and what format suits a family spread across several countries. Fees depend on the structure and are indicated after the assessment. Related ongoing work is described in the yearly compliance review.