Family office in Delaware: flexible entities, modern trust law and a family trust company charter from 2026

Delaware is a legal home rather than an operating base. The family office team and its regulatory status are usually located where the family lives, for example in New York, Florida, California or abroad. Its single-family office status follows the federal family office rule, Rule 202(a)(11)(G)-1. What Delaware supplies is the architecture. The Delaware LLC Act gives maximum effect to freedom of contract in the operating agreement. It permits series LLCs and makes a charging order the exclusive remedy of a member's personal creditor. A Delaware LLC pays a flat annual tax of US$300. Partnerships and statutory trusts under 12 Del. C. chapter 38 offer further options, and disputes over these entities and over trusts are heard in the Court of Chancery, a specialist equity court without juries. Delaware's 2025 corporate law amendments (SB 21) also revised the safe harbours for transactions with controlling stockholders, which is relevant to family-controlled operating companies.

Delaware trust law is a main reason families come. Delaware repealed its rule against perpetuities for personal property in 1995, so a dynasty trust holding securities or LLC interests can last indefinitely. Real property held directly remains subject to a 110-year period, which is why families hold land through entities. Under 12 Del. C. §3313, a trust instrument can appoint an investment adviser, distribution adviser or trust protector who directs the trustee. The directed trustee is not liable for following directions except for wilful misconduct and has no duty to monitor the adviser. Section 3313A allows an excluded co-trustee arrangement. The trustee's duty to inform beneficiaries can be postponed for a defined period under §3303(c) (a 'quiet' or silent trust). A designated representative can receive information on behalf of beneficiaries. Delaware also has a well-used decanting statute.

Asset protection is available under the Qualified Dispositions in Trust Act, in force since 1997. A settlor can be a discretionary beneficiary of their own trust if a qualified Delaware trustee takes part in its administration. Creditors generally must bring claims within four years of the transfer, or, for existing creditors, within one year after they discovered or could reasonably have discovered it, if later. Statutory exceptions remain. They include claims for child support, and claims of a spouse married to the settlor at or before the transfer for alimony or property division. Under a 2023 amendment, a spouse can waive those claims by an informed written consent. Courts in other states have not always applied a Delaware asset protection trust to their own residents. It should therefore be used for planning ahead of any claim, never as a response to one.

On tax, a Delaware resident trust is not taxed on income accumulated for beneficiaries who are not resident in Delaware. A trust with no Delaware beneficiaries typically pays no Delaware income tax. This supports Delaware incomplete gift non-grantor (DING) trusts, but some home states, New York in particular, tax such trusts to the grantor. The main 2026 development is the Family Trust Company Act (SB 327, signed on 13 July 2026, Volume 85, Chapter 346). It creates a regulated family trust company that serves a single family. That family is defined by relation to a designated relative and includes lineal descendants and collateral relatives within ten degrees. Capital and surplus generally may not be set above US$375,000. The company needs a principal place of business in Delaware and annual examinations, and material trust administration must take place in Delaware where Delaware law is to govern a trust. The State Bank Commissioner is to adopt implementing regulations within a year. Until then, limited purpose trust companies under 5 Del. C. §§774-777 remain the existing option.