The term “family” may be used in two ways.  One is to denote members of a nuclear family who live or have lived together as a unit – often termed a household in wealth management services. The other definition denotes the extended members of the entire family enterprise system, comprising the many households, branches, and generations of a family enterprise. 

In either case, a family has traditionally been defined by members joined together either by blood or by marriage, with clear lines of demarcation for who was in or outside of the family system. However, changes in the law, demographics, reproductive technology, and family perspectives have required a redefinition of who is the family.  

Families now may be nuclear, blended, or other variations and often include nontraditional approaches to defining a spouse or life partner and to defining descendants.  Spouses can be different sex or same sex.  Spouse-like relationships can include civil unions, domestic partnerships, and unmarried committed cohabiting partners.  Descendants can include biological children, children by adoption, nonmarital children, stepchildren, foster children, and children created through assisted reproductive technologies (such as in-vitro fertilization and surrogacy). A child may have one, two, or more legal parents.  UHNW family cohesion across generations often emphasizes the need to foster common values, interests, and goals over time, no matter who is in the family 

These factors have expanded who is considered “family” both relationally and legally, with a corresponding impact on estate planning, trust design and administration, governance, and wealth advising.  Advisors need to be careful not to assume their own definition of family is shared by the client. The question of “who is family” must be considered and discussed carefully for each client, without preconception.