For advisors
You see what’s happening in the room. You know what’s driving it. Addressing it directly isn’t your role, and referring it out risks losing continuity with a client who trusts you.
This practice is designed to work alongside estate attorneys, wealth managers, and family office professionals — not to replace the advisory relationship you already have.
The gap you’re working around
The estate plan is complete. The family can’t agree on how to execute it.
The documents are sound. The problem is the people. No amount of revision to the trust structure will resolve what’s happening between the siblings in the room.
The successor has been named. The founder won’t let go.
Transition planning stalls when the person who built the business can’t separate identity from ownership. That is a relationship problem, not a planning problem.
The family says they want to sell. Every conversation about it falls apart.
Families say they’ve agreed to things they haven’t actually agreed to. When the stakes are high enough, what gets avoided in the room matters more than what gets said.
You can see the dynamic clearly. Naming it isn’t your job.
Your expertise is the structure. The relationship is outside your lane, and you know it. The question is what to do about it without disrupting a client relationship that took years to build.
What this practice offers
The work here is the work that doesn’t belong in a legal brief, a financial plan, or a governance document. It belongs in the room, with the people in it.
Derrick A. Mason
How it works alongside your practice
This is not a referral that ends your involvement.
The goal is to address what’s blocking your clients from acting on the advice they’re already getting. Once the relational obstruction is cleared, your work continues. The engagement here is parallel to yours, not a replacement for it.
Confidentiality is built into the process.
Individual conversations with family members are confidential. Findings are presented as patterns, not attributed to specific individuals. The process is designed to be non-threatening to people who are already in a defensive posture about their family and their money.
The framing to your client is straightforward.
This is business advisory work, not therapy. Derrick A. Mason’s background is in clinical family work, and that depth is what makes this different. The engagement itself is advisory: no clinical relationship, no diagnosis, no treatment. That distinction matters when you’re introducing this to clients who might otherwise resist.
Direct conversation is welcome.
If you’re trying to figure out whether a situation you’re managing is something this practice can help with, reach out directly. A brief conversation about the situation is enough to know whether there’s a fit.
Let’s talk
If you’re working with a family where the relationship dynamics are getting in the way of the work you’re trying to do, this practice may be useful to know about.
Get in touch