If you are helping a family to consider the creation of a family constitution, or if you are an advisor involved in helping a family through the process of creating one, then an important question to ask yourself and your client family is “what kind of family constitution are you going to create?”
The concept of creating a formalized written family constitution has become generally accepted as representing a key best practice for family enterprises (especially those involved in a transition). As such we should now be at the stage where we can move past the question of what are the benefits of developing a family constitution to a more detailed analysis of common family constitution “archetypes” – basic models or patterns that can often be recognized.