If siblings give a family office conflicting instructions about the same investment or payment, preserve the communications and identify who has authority. Staff should not decide the dispute by choosing the most senior family member informally.
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Separate family influence, share ownership, directorship and an express mandate. Those roles can belong to different people and do not necessarily carry the same powers.
Identify the entity and action
Record the account holder, proposed transaction, amount and deadline. Determine whether the instruction concerns company assets, trust assets or an individual’s account. The correct decision route depends on that distinction.
Preserve both instructions, including timing and relevant attachments. Avoid deleting one message or presenting the file as though only the preferred instruction existed.
Example: one sibling wants a sale, another objects
Two family members give opposite instructions concerning a company-owned investment. The office should check the governing authority and obtain advice where there is a genuine dispute. Personal ownership expectations do not establish who can bind the company.
Prepare the authority and conflict file
- The relevant entity and legal owners.
- Current directors, trustee or other decision-makers.
- Constitution, agreements and mandates.
- The competing instructions and chronology.
- Any personal interest or conflict.
- The decision or clarification needed.
Review the actual company constitution. ACRA’s constitution guidance explains the governing document’s role, but legal advisers must assess the dispute against the particular records.
Do not treat silence as agreement
If one person has not responded, establish whether consent is required and how it must be given. Do not mark an objection resolved simply because a family chat went quiet. Equally, an informal objection should be assessed for its actual legal significance.
Check whether there is an urgent deadline or risk requiring immediate legal advice. The office should not assume it can freeze every account or continue every transaction without reviewing the authority and consequences.
Keep staff out of unsupported legal conclusions
Give operational staff clear instructions from the properly authorised process. They should understand what they may do, what remains disputed and whom to contact. A request to “just follow my instruction” should not substitute for a resolved authority question.
Where advisers or mediators are involved, preserve the documents and accurate account of the issue. Do not claim a settlement or court outcome before it has actually occurred.
Record the eventual decision
Keep the authority, approval, legal advice where appropriate and transaction outcome in a restricted file. Tell the relevant institution or counterparty accurate facts through authorised channels. If a mandate changes, obtain evidence it was implemented.
After the immediate disagreement, review whether the governance documents adequately address deadlock, reserved matters and escalation.
Does being the eldest sibling establish transaction authority?
No. Review the actual roles and governing documents.
Should staff execute first and seek family agreement later?
Resolve the necessary authority before acting, with urgent advice where the circumstances require it.
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