The patriarch of the family about to retire contacted us through their family lawyer. He would like to have as smooth as a possible transition of the family business to his three children where only one child (27y old) has been already actively involved in the management of the family business. The second child (17y old) was studying a subject completely different from the family business and intended to follow this path. The relationship with the third child (20y old) was complicated and strained.

However, the head of the family loved all his children and wanted all to be part of the fair and satisfactory succession solution. We were asked to prepare the next generation transfer plan with viable options and workable proposals in the circumstances. Having several, also separate, meetings with all involved members of the family, we listened to their, often very different, views identified the sticking points (e.g. unhappiness of the third child for not being included in the family business), but also the common denominator point (e.g. the siblings loved each other and the family was sticking together). Thus, we were able to prepare the succession plan as asked, with several suggestions on how to preserve the continuity of their family business and foster the family cohesiveness by including the third child into running the family business.