How we are paid, stated clearly.
Compensation takes three forms. Each is disclosed in advance, in writing, before any work begins.
The shape of a mandate.
A fixed retainer, agreed in advance with the family, covers the architectural, coordination, and governance work. It is the fee for holding the mandate, convening the specialist table, maintaining the Family Policy Statement, and carrying the standard of care across the year.
The retainer is reviewed annually against the complexity and cadence of the engagement. It is not billed by the hour, and there are no surprises.
Where investment oversight is delegated to independently registered portfolio managers, the firm is compensated by an objective referral fee. One manager pays the same as any other — so selection is never biased by fee.
The goal is not the highest fee the firm can earn. It is the highest fit for capital to work accretively within the family’s architecture and objectives.
Insurance is never sold as product. It is placed where the architecture requires it — to fund an estate obligation, underwrite continuity, or convert ordinary income into capital within a corporate holding.
A premium pays for the benefits a family keeps: peace of mind, tax efficiency, the architectural support the policy carries. The firm is paid for the design and placement at the outset, and a small ongoing fee to manage the structure for as long as the policy remains in force.
The compensation follows the work. Not the product.
Where the firm receives compensation from a third party connected to a recommendation — a manager, a carrier, a referral — the arrangement is disclosed in writing before any work is committed. The price and the value are weighed plainly, against the alternative.
The choice is always the family’s. The firm’s role is to make the economics visible — so the decision is informed.
Where Senatus earns, the family receives multiples in value. That ratio is the test the firm holds itself to.
The firm is not owned by, controlled by, or affiliated with any bank, insurer, broker-dealer, or asset manager. Independence is a structural condition, not a claim.
The terms, before the work.
Senior counsel will write you back personally. Fees, scope, and fit, made plain in the first letter.