All in the Family: Succession Issues in Family-Owned Businesses

On this episode of “Splitting Heirs,” Warren K. Racusin talks with Lowenstein partner Nick San Filippo, Chair of the firm’s Business Divorce practice, and Jeff Savlov, a partner in the family business and wealth consulting firm Blum & Savlov, about the challenges facing family-owned businesses when disputes arise between parents and children, siblings, or other relatives. Observing that an unwillingness to address uncomfortable issues about succession planning and the future of the business often leads to conflict when the matriarch or the patriarch passes away, San Filippo emphasizes the need for a clearly constructed shareholders’ agreement so that all parties are clear on governance, documentation, and succession issues: who will lead the business, how will owners get paid, how should distributions should be made out of the business to cover taxes or distribute profits? The lawyers also encourage families to review these documents periodically as life circumstances and priorities may evolve over time.

Speakers:

Warren K. Racusin, Partner and Chair, Trusts & Estates
Nicholas San Filippo IV, Partner Co-chair, Business Divorce
Jeff Savlov, Partner, Blum & Savlov