The article examines the issues of the professional formation of a future officer in the process of studying at a military university as a carrier of certain social properties and a system of moral standards. The purpose of the article is to analyze the influence of the features of internal structures, the nature of relations and values of the family as a social institution on the formation of the professional potential of a future military specialist. In the process of considering the problem under study, a systematic approach is used that reflects the interconnection of the interests of such public institutions as the family, the state, and the army. The work clarifies the concepts of “family values”, “professional potential of cadets of a military university”, reveals their structure, analyzes the process of developing and forming by the family professionally important personality qualities of future officers, value orientations that affect the educational motivation of cadets. The results of an empirical study of the influence of family values and the nature of intra-family relationships on the level of development of educational motivation of future military specialists are presented. The presented materials show the relationship between the formation of intra-family socially significant values and the level of motivational focus on the development of a military specialty, the construction of life prospects. The significance of the study lies in the analysis of the mechanism for the formation by the family of values for the development of cadets of their future profession. The results obtained can be used in the interests of improving the system of pedagogical support aimed at the formation of family values among cadets in a military university.