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Article: Business Adviser - Succession Success: Passing a family business to the next generation is a process fraught with challenges.(International Pages)
- Article from:
- Financial Planning
- Article date:
- August 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 SourceMedia, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Once upon a time, family patriarchs had it easy when it came to deciding who would receive the family fortune or take over the family business. Centuries-old customs required that the eldest sonregardless of skills or business acumenreceive the family wealth and control of the family business upon the father's death. And no one retired. Thus, businesses often literally lived or died based on the often-unknown management skills of the male heir, skills that frequently weren't explored until the senior family member died.
Today, in this new millennium, family businesses are handled with more forethought and under a greater umbrella of inheritance laws. Still, the ...