The letter, before the call.

ParetoAlpha, Inc. · 2121 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 800, Los Angeles, California 90067

[Date]

[Name], [Title] [Family office]

The Structure Check

1. What I will do. Over five business days I, J.R. Barbieri, will read the documents in clause 3 and set beside each entity and trust the family holds four things: the name and the trustee or manager the documents give it and what the documents name it to hold; the entity or person named on the registration line of each account and the title line of each deed and certificate; whether the entity appears in the ledger with its balances; and whether its latest return or K-1 is in the family's own files. The finding on titling comes within 48 hours of read access to the instruments and one month of statements, to the principal and the CFO together. On the fifth day you receive a written finding, each observation beside the document it rests on, and an hour together on it.
2. The fee. $3,500, invoiced on signature and paid by wire before day one. No other fee, expense or charge.
3. What I need. Read-only access, in your own systems and your own files, to: each trust agreement, operating agreement and partnership agreement with its schedules; the entity register; one month of bank and custodian statements; the deeds and certificates in the file; the ledger's entity list and trial balance; and the family's copies of its latest returns and K-1s. The five business days, and clause 5, start on the day all of this access is given.
4. Your information. I work in your systems and your files. Your office creates the read-only access, logs its use and revokes it on day five. I will never hold a credential that can initiate, approve or change a payment, a title or a document. I keep no copy of your documents. The written finding is the only document that leaves your office; my copy of it is kept for four years under the NDA, then destroyed. The NDA attached governs everything I see.
5. The refund. If the statements show every account titled as the documents name it, and the ledger and your own files show every entity booked and with its latest return, you get every dollar back. If the finding is not delivered in five business days, the same, unless I have stopped the work under clause 9. "Titled as the documents name it" means the registration line on the account's statement, or the title line of the deed or certificate, names the entity or trust that the instrument or its schedule names to hold it. "Booked" means the entity appears in the ledger with its balances. "Its latest return" means a return or K-1 for the most recent closed year is in your own files. A refund is returned to the account the fee came from within ten business days of the finding, or of the fifth business day if the finding is late.
6. What this is not. It prepares no tax return, drafts or amends no document, gives no tax, legal or investment advice, and changes nothing in any system or any title. It is not an attest engagement, is not performed by a licensed certified public accountant, and is not performed by an attorney. It is a reading of the documents you provide, as of the days it is done: it reports what each document names and each registration line shows, and does not interpret any instrument, state whether any transfer was effective, or assure that no other difference exists.
7. Liability and insurance. ParetoAlpha's total liability under this letter is limited to the fee paid. ParetoAlpha carries professional liability insurance of $2 million per claim and $2 million in the aggregate, and cyber liability insurance of $1 million; the certificate is attached.
8. After the check. Nothing follows unless you ask for it.
9. Who sees the finding, and suspected fraud. The draft goes to the principal and the CFO together on day four. The CFO has one business day to correct facts, in a reply attached to the finding; nothing is removed. The final finding goes to both on day five. If something looks like fraud, I stop the work and tell the principal in writing the same day. If money appears to be in transit, I tell the principal at once, so the bank can be called. What happens next is the family's decision. If the principal appears to be involved, I stop the work, return the fee in full, and step away. Nothing in this letter limits a disclosure the law requires.
10. The professional who ordered the check. ParetoAlpha pays no referral fee and takes none. [ ] The family agrees that [name], the attorney or CPA who ordered or introduced the check, receives the final finding on the same day as the family. If this box is not marked, that person may be told only that the check is done, and nothing more.
11. Language and law. A Spanish translation of this letter is given on request; the English text governs. The law of California governs this letter; any dispute is heard in Los Angeles County.

For ParetoAlpha, Inc.: J.R. Barbieri, Founder ____________ Date ______

For [Family office]: [Name], [Title] ____________ Date ______

The non-disclosure agreement (one-way)

1. Confidential information is everything ParetoAlpha sees or is told in the course of the Structure Check, including the existence of the engagement and the family's identity.
2. ParetoAlpha will use it only to perform the check, disclose it to no one, and copy, download or retain none of it, except its own copy of the signed letter, this agreement, its invoice and the written finding. It keeps the finding for four years and then destroys it, and confirms in writing at the end of the engagement that it holds nothing else.
3. The family's name will not appear on ParetoAlpha's website, in its marketing or in any example, and no finding will be described in a way that identifies the family, without the family's written consent.
4. Exceptions: information already public, or disclosure the law requires, with notice to the family where the law permits.
5. Term: five years; for the family's identity, without end.