The DGF Method
Six stages, in the order the House uses them.
The Method is professional discipline, not ceremony. Reality precedes continuity; continuity precedes structure; structure precedes execution. Every stage exists so the matter is understood before it is acted upon.
The engagement architecture
I
Entrustment
The matter is received in confidence, by name. Discretion, boundaries, and the terms of consideration are agreed before any examination begins.
II
Reality Review
What actually exists is established from first sources — ownership, obligations, participants, and the true circumstances of the matter — distinct from what has been described.
III
Continuity Interview
A private conversation with the principal, conducted in the register of the matter. The House listens for what would be at risk if the situation were treated only as a transaction.
IV
Continuity Review
The House considers what deserves to be carried forward, what should be renewed, and what may be released. Strategic alternatives are compared, including the path of doing nothing.
V
Continuity Report
A signed written document prepared for the principal — the signature work of the House. Legal, fiscal, and financial specialists coordinate around it as a shared point of reference.
VI
Faithful Passage
The House remains the continuity point of reference while execution is undertaken by the appropriate professional advisers, regulated specialists, and — where separately engaged — DGF Frères Capital. What deserves to remain alive is not lost between competent hands; the relationship with the House remains, quietly, by name.
Beyond these six
The longer constitutional sequence — Entrustment, Reality Review, Reality Correspondence, Continuity Interview, Continuity Review, Identity Review, Stewardship Review, Continuity Report, Strategic Alternatives, Specialist Coordination, Execution, Renewed Continuity — is the interior discipline of the House. It is recorded in the Reading Room. The six stages above are what the principal experiences.