In a common hub-and-spoke advisory network model of service delivery, a provider or specialist firm may work with a client family regarding one or more services in a domain within the Ten Domains of Family Wealth model. The family may seek out the specialist provider on its own or it may request that its family office or primary advisory firm (the “hub”) recommend or find the specialist provider for the client. 

The family office or firm has choices in how it assists a client family with obtaining specialist services. It can simply help the family understand the nature of those services so the family can perform a search on its own. It can help recommend services through making referrals to one or more providers in an arm’s-length relationship whereby the client contracts and pays for the specialist services independently. Or, the hub firm may offer to its clients a short list of specialist providers with whom the firm has a known history, vouches for the quality of service, and may have a preferred-provider contractual relationship or strategic partnership.

Relationships with spoke providers in a strategic partnership are the most integrated and collaborative of connections for the client. However, there are also a range of benefits, risks, and pricing issues involved in the type of relationship between the hub firm and the spoke provider.