Many large businesses are owned by a single beneficiary. If an adverse event were to happen to them, the business runs the risk of suffering greatly, if not disappearing altogether. To prevent this from happening, while still alive, an entrepreneur should develop a competent strategy for transferring their assets to  successors. Partner Olesya Petrol explains how to do this:

Options for involving potential heirs in the family business vary. It can be the lifetime transfer of a share

in a business or some function there, not necessarily managerial at all, explains Petrol. If it becomes clear that the successor is only burdened by such activities, it makes sense to consider the option of selling the company during the owner’s lifetime. The money from such a transaction can be converted into assets, the income from which will ensure the heirs’ life, taking into account their needs and goals, stresses the lawyer.

“The main question with successors is whether they want to do business themselves. Not everyone is born an entrepreneur. If the successor doesn’t want to do business, it’s no use getting him involved,” Petrol says.

Sometimes the disputes of an entrepreneur’s heirs drag on for several years and lead to the total destruction of the business, she points out.

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