Business Families and Family Businesses

The resilience of family businesses has been evident from their success over centuries and across continents. It remains common for practitioners to advise families whose principal source of wealth is or has been a successful family enterprise, and to provide guidance on the specific and complex relationships and issues that arise in this context. This new edition, edited by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), features chapters by leading practitioners in the field, including the Family Firm Institute, Schroders, Boodle Hatfield and SandAire, Kleinwort Hambros, Dixon Wilson and Rathbones. The book considers what makes business families and family businesses unique, and examines the issues that advisers are often called upon to consider and address when assisting them. It helps practitioners to deepen their understanding of how families operate, and to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to advise on such complex areas as conflicts between working and non-working family members, ownership structure, succession, wealth management, governance and meeting a family’s philanthropic objectives. The guide provides a comprehensive handbook for all practitioners who advise business families, including lawyers, accountants, financial advisers and wider family business advisers.