Family Business Succession

Protect and Enhance Your Family Wealth for the Future

We work with varying high net worth families, entrepreneurs and individuals to put in place structures that protect and enhance wealth for future generations, carefully balancing that against political risk and economic uncertainty.

Family business plays an increasingly important role in the worldwide economy. However, we find that many fail to have the suitable succession plans and future structures in place, mainly because family businesses can face unique and complex succession planning issues. These barriers often work against the successful continuation of the business. Advance planning can overcome those challenges and secure future ownership and governance of the business.

Those businesses that survive for many generations tend to have a strong sense of purpose. Engaging family members is essential in developing family charters that address issues such as the future ownership model of the business, composition and election of the company’s board, the key board decisions that require a consensus or a qualified majority. Such conditions enable generations of family members to continue to work in the business and support the boundaries for corporate and financial strategy.

They also put in place mechanisms for ongoing oversight and governance by the family via family councils or protector committees with different branches of the family being represented and avoiding disenfranchised family members that can lead to businesses being broken up.

Our experienced team can assist families looking to transfer ownership of the family business to a trust, foundation, or similar structure and ensure that it provides an effective vehicle through which to hold the family business moving forward in line with the family governance framework.