Most family businesses that fail to pass to the next generation do not fail for legal or tax reasons. They fail because a few important conversations never took place.
Who wants to run the company? Who wants to own it? Are those the same people? These questions are simple to ask and remarkably difficult to answer honestly around a family table.
Start ten years early
The best successions we have seen began a decade before the handover, with a family charter, a council that meets twice a year and children who were given real responsibility early.
We spent two years talking and two weeks signing. It was the right way round.
A client, third generation
Fair is not always equal
Treating children fairly does not always mean giving each the same shares. It means explaining every decision, in writing, before it becomes a surprise.
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