Estate Planning Attorney in Phoenix, Arizona
What are the challenges facing business owners in passing the family business to their heirs?
What are the challenges facing business owners in passing the family business to their heirs?
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Do you have in place your successors? I often find clients they believe in the hub and spoke approach where their business runs because of them and my question always is if you become disabled tomorrow who’s going to run your business? And then, you spiral out from there. Some families they have a nice family business, the son works in the business, the daughter may also work in the business. And one of them may actually be the manager and the other one may just be a bookkeeper but they both make the same amount of money and you have to be sure that we’ve established a plan so that the brother and the sister or the three brothers are all going to get along, that you’ve established a hierarchy. But most importantly, that you’ve put it into place by giving those that come after you the training and the experience to be successful. Otherwise, the business is just going to either crumble and fall away or be sold.
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Phoenix, AZ estate planning attorney Mark A. Bregman talks about specific challenges business owners might face when passing their business to their heirs. He states that he often raises the critical question of succession with clients: if they were to become disabled tomorrow, who would run the business? Many operate under a “hub and spoke” model, where the business depends heavily on them, but without a clear succession plan, the company’s future is at risk.
In family businesses, dynamics can be particularly complex. For example, a son may serve as the manager while a daughter handles bookkeeping, yet both may receive equal compensation. In such cases, it is essential to establish a clear hierarchy and ensure roles and responsibilities are well-defined to prevent conflict among siblings or other family members.
Most importantly, he emphasizes the need to prepare successors through proper training and experience. Without this groundwork, a business risks crumbling, losing value, or being sold prematurely rather than continuing as a lasting enterprise.
