In our experience working with wealthy families, it is not uncommon to find a situation in which there is division of labor between husband and wife around the many different aspects of the couple’s life. And when it comes to oversight and management of the family’s wealth enterprise®, in a marriage in which the husband has been financially successful, it is also not uncommon for him to take on the primary decision making role around the financial affairs of the family, with his wife taking on the primary decision making role in other areas of the couple’s life. This division of labor often works for a long period of time, and the family has a strong sense of financial security and high standard of living. But what happens if and when he stops playing that role?
This paper addresses and identifies an important but not often discussed subset of women: wives in ultra-affluent families and the challenges they encounter when, by choice or circumstance, find themselves transitioning into a leadership role in the family wealth enterprise®.
