Murray Beith Murray LLP is a leading Scottish private client law firm.
For 175 years we have specialised in meeting the legal, financial and administrative needs of individuals and families, family trusts, charities and private companies.
When it comes to family businesses, there is an old adage that goes “The first generation makes it, the second generation maintains it and the third generation blows it”. In a family business, there are tensions and expectation not only across the generations but amongst those involved in managing the business and those who are not.
Whilst every family business is different, there are common themes running through them, not least the important of succession planning.
Murray Beith Murray Private Client Partner, Peter Shand, writes in The Scotsman today. Read the full article below, republished by kind permission of The Scotsman:
Family businesses face most of the same challenges and difficulties as all other businesses, but have the added complication of involving important personal relationships. Such relationships can cause the business to have different considerations and priorities, and when things go wrong, the consequences can be even more severe. In our experience, problems relating to ownership and management of a family business tend to be less prominent during the first generation of ownership, but we typically see problems start to arise when the second generation of family members is looking to step in or take over.
Running a family business can be all-consuming, but taking time out to plan for the future is important, and doing this properly is the key to successful succession planning.
Murray Beith Murray Partner, Peter Shand, writes in The Scotsman today about the rising trend of the super-wealthy in setting up finance and legal offices to deal with their affairs.
