Paying bills. Evaluating insurance plans. Developing a united plan for your family's philanthropic efforts.

The list of "office" responsibilities that families must fulfill can be endless, and more families are turning to outsourcing as a way to reduce the frustration and headaches that come from their household office operations.

"For years and years, it's been the really wealthy," says Candace Tooke, a CPA with Henry & Horne, a Leading Edge Alliance firm.

However, outsourcing various aspects of the household's financial responsibilities is no longer reserved for the über wealthy, experts say.

"The most common traditional services are taxes and budgetary bill-paying," Tooke says, noting those areas are what many expect from their CPAs.

Yet, more families are taking advantage of their financial services firms' expertise in less-traditional areas. For example, Tooke says, an outside representative can manage the family's collections such as art on loan, as well as identify the appropriate tax benefits and structure how best to pay for such pieces.

Financial experts also assist families coming together to do philanthropic work. "You can do more as a group than individuals," Tooke says. One option could include the creation and operation of a family foundation.

Leading Edge Alliance firm, Warren, Averett, Kimbrough and Marino, assists its clients with many varied personal financial services. "Retirement should be relaxing," the firm notes.

Steven Causey, CPA, and Beverly Virciglio, CPA, say clients are surprised to learn about some of the services they offer, such as helping in the selection of a nursing home or retirement community, paying bills, selling a home or even determining the level of care necessary for family members.

Warren, Averett, Kimbrough and Marino experts can serve as guides to help people figure out the best course to take.

"Selecting an assisted living or nursing home is a very difficult time in an elderly person's life, both physically and mentally," Causey explains.

Virciglio says, "Sometimes it's the elderly client asking for these services so they are not dependent on their children, or they don't have anyone to handle this for them in their family.

"Children may live out of town so we're an 'in-town' alternative," she says.

Although they are not and do not act as medical professionals, the Warren, Averett, Kimbrough and Marino personal financial services team also can participate in determining the best level of care for particular family members from a different perspective. "This can be a confusing area with contracts, service options, etc., so we are able to help them feel good about many complicated decisions, particularly if long-term care insurance is involved," Causey says.

Tooke says Henry & Horne clients often learn about the family office services because they initially sought the firm as a vendor for other services—such as reviewing or preparing their tax returns. But other family office services were being offered elsewhere in the firm (bill-paying for example already was being done by members of the firm acting as conservators)—they just weren't considered as a category unto themselves. "We brought (the services) together," Tooke explains.

One of the first steps to creating a comprehensive family office plan is for the family to create its mission statement. Tooke says using that as the overall guide, each family member's responsibilities are determined and agreed to by all involved—services and functions each is expected to provide are outlined as well as which ones will be outsourced. Another important step is to establish procedures and controls to ensure all family members and non-family service providers are fulfilling their responsibilities.

Depending on the family's mission and expectations, various areas can be considered and evaluated with an outside financial expert. These include:

• Cash flow and budget planning, which can include calculating estimated income and alternative minimum tax as well as analyzing the timing of income, and making multi-year tax projections. In addition, plans for cash management, budgets and a calendar of scheduled transactions are created.
• Administrative services, such as family bill paying and banking, payroll, personal accounting and reporting, consolidated investment tracking, and document and record management.
• Recordkeeping and reporting, including income allocation among family members and oversight of all collectables such as inventory, appraisals, insurance and charitable contributions.
• Family asset transfers, such as succession planning, estate planning (addressing both charitable and marital deduction expections) and gift planning.

One option families might want to consider is establishing a formal family council, which meets regularly with structured objectives to develop and implement the family's short- and long-term objectives. An outside professional can administer the council's meetings and related functions.

"Family councils offer a healthy structure for family meetings," Tooke says. e