As of August 3, 2026
Family meetings help high-net-worth clients prepare for the transfer of their wealth while helping advisors strengthen client retention and continuity across generations. This guide shares practical strategies for planning and leading family meetings effectively.
Family meetings play a critical role in helping high-net-worth clients prepare for the transfer of wealth while strengthening your long-term relationships with the family. By bringing spouses, adult children and other future decision-makers into the planning process, you can help clients communicate their wishes, prepare heirs for future responsibilities and strengthen family alignment around their legacy.
As the facilitator, educator and guide over the course of numerous meetings, you become a trusted resource to multiple generations of the family. Starting early allows you to establish trust, demonstrate your value and build relationships with the next generation long before they assume control of the family's wealth.
Conducting family meetings is the #1 strategy for planning wealth transfers
% of high-net-worth practices identifying strategies as effective
Source: Cerulli, “The Cerulli Edge: The Americas Asset and Wealth Management Edition,” June 2025.
Preparing for future transitions will likely require a series of meetings to ensure heirs understand the client’s wishes and the roles and responsibilities of family members. After the initial series of meetings, hold periodic check-ins at least annually to keep heirs informed of any developments and reinforce how you can be valuable to them after they receive their inheritance.
Outside of wealth transfer planning, consider asking heirs to join conversations about topics that affect multiple generations of a family, like planning for education costs, charitable giving or the succession of a family business. No matter the purpose, any conversation with the inheritors of your client’s wealth is an opportunity to plant the seeds for future business relationships.
Some high-net-worth clients may be uncomfortable sharing financial information with their children. Preempt these concerns by explaining that the meeting will focus on the family’s financial goals and values and it is not necessary to mention the amount of their wealth. In fact, dollar signs can distract heirs from the purpose of the meeting, while framing discussions around the meaning of their inheritance can influence heirs to make better financial decisions in the future.
If a client is still reluctant to agree to a family meeting, show them why it is important by asking “What are your hopes for your legacy?” and “What worries you about the future?” Create space for them to reflect and respond, and prompt them to elaborate. When they are finished, ask “Do your children know everything you just told me?” This could be an ‘Ah-ha’ moment for the client.
Family meetings are likely to be more productive if the client is involved in the planning. Ask your client to collaborate with you to:
Once the meeting invitation has been sent, ask each participant to meet with you individually before the family meeting to share their views on financial goals and values. These conversations lay the groundwork for building authentic relationships with each family member while helping you assess their perspectives, priorities and readiness for the upcoming family meeting.
Listen for similarities and differences across these one-on-ones. This can help you anticipate where consensus may be easily reached and where tensions may arise. Additionally, these discussions may reveal gaps in financial literacy, which opens the door for you to educate your client’s heirs and earn their trust.
How you facilitate the conversation can shape the family's experience, strengthen trust across generations and influence whether future decision-makers choose to work with you. These best practices can help.
Get personal. Show family members that you are interested in getting to know them. Start the conversation by drawing upon what you already know about them (where they go to college, causes they support, a new baby). Share something about yourself that shows them who you are beyond being an advisor.
Make conversations approachable. A client’s heirs may or may not know much about finances. Use plain language and educate as needed without patronizing. Asking “Are you familiar with…?” shows that you are not making assumptions about their level of knowledge and allows them to feel comfortable asking you questions.
Be inclusive. Create space for each person to contribute to the conversation. Before moving on to the next agenda item, invite individuals who have not spoken to share their thoughts. If you are inclined to focus on a client’s adult children, keep in mind that when a client passes away, control of the family’s assets often remains with a widowed spouse before it passes to the children.
Tailor your narrative. Your message will resonate more effectively when you align your communication style with the preferences of your audience.
Listen actively. After a family member speaks, paraphrase what you heard. This confirms your understanding and demonstrates that you value what they have to say. When appropriate, ask “Can you tell me more about that?”
Ask open-ended questions. Gain more insight about a client’s heirs by asking questions that prompt more than a ‘yes-or-no’ answer
Examples of open-ended versus ‘yes-or-no’ questions for family meetings
Each family meeting is an opportunity for you to show potential future clients the value of having you as an advisor. During your discussions, touch upon these three key areas:
After a family meeting, ask the client for feedback and address any questions or concerns they may have. Explore other topics they might like to discuss with family members and propose a cadence for future family meetings.
Separately, reach out to each family member and thank them for attending the meeting. A thoughtful follow-up reinforces your relationship with potential future clients while giving you an opportunity to:
The BlackRock Business Consulting team can help you build multigenerational relationships with high-net-worth families and improve asset retention as your clients’ wealth changes hands. Contact your BlackRock representative for more information or explore our online resources.
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Family meetings help high-net-worth families communicate their financial goals, prepare heirs for future responsibilities and reduce misunderstandings during future wealth transfers. They also give financial advisors an opportunity to build relationships with spouses and adult children before assets change hands, improving continuity across generations.
Family meetings may cover wealth transfer goals, family values, charitable giving, business succession, estate planning objectives, education funding and the roles and responsibilities of future decision-makers. Many families intentionally avoid discussing specific account balances so the conversation remains focused on legacy rather than the size of an inheritance.
Successful family meetings are well planned, have clear objectives and encourage participation from every attendee. Advisors can improve engagement by using plain language, asking open-ended questions, actively listening, tailoring communication for different generations and creating an environment where each family member feels comfortable sharing their perspective.
When heirs become familiar with the advisor before inheriting wealth, they are more likely to continue the relationship after a client's death. Family meetings allow advisors to demonstrate their expertise, explain their services and establish trust with future decision-makers, helping improve long-term client retention.
Many advisors recommend an initial series of meetings followed by annual family meetings or periodic check-ins. Regular meetings help families revisit goals, communicate changes in circumstances and prepare for important life events such as marriages, births, business transitions or changes to estate plans.
This material is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy.
The information and opinions contained in this material are derived from proprietary and nonproprietary sources deemed by BlackRock to be reliable, are not necessarily all-inclusive and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader.
Prepared by BlackRock Investments, LLC, member FINRA.
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