There is always excitement in a family when a son or daughter comes home and says they have found the love of their life and are getting married. Compound that with an expectation of having grandchildren and everyone cannot wait to see their families grow. If you are a business family and your intention is
One of the reasons that family businesses thrive and become successful is that they are able to organize their corporations to allow members of the family to become owners through share ownership or as a beneficiary of a family trust. In becoming an owner of the business, each family member would then be entitled to
Transitioning a family business from one generation to another is a difficult undertaking that, at the best of times, creates a degree of uncertainty among the owners of the business, the managers and employees of the business and the family itself. The owners and operators of the business are bound have questions and concerns as
Succession planning in the family business world is a daunting undertaking and, like other difficult initiatives, family business owners often elect to ignore the issue or procrastinate in having the required conversations. In 2014, Deloitte Canada published its Family Business Survey of 120 family-owned companies and found that 17% had a formal succession plan, 50%
Last month, we discussed the need for every business family to have their Wills, Powers of Attorney and Succession Plans in place. As a follow-up, this column addresses the need for business families to hold discussions to finalize retirement, estate and succession planning issues. When meeting with clients about their Wills, clients often say “everything
Here are two very important questions for all of you. The first important question: “What would your family do tomorrow, if you unexpectedly died tomorrow?” For most business families, there are only 3 responses: We don’t know. We don’t have anything in place. We have our Wills, Powers of Attorney and Personal Directives in place.
The simple answer to this question is that the operation of a family business is a paradox and every aspect of their business is subject to pressures, loves, opinions, demands and emotions of the entire family. Introduce family members from multiple generations (and their respective spouses) and perhaps the interests of non-family member owners, board
What is more challenging: understanding the complexities of your family or managing your own business? Now imagine how those complexities may be magnified if are operating a family business that is being transitioned to your children or is to be co-owned with your siblings or cousins. Welcome to the world that many business families are
