Succession Plan
A succession plan is the active, governance-led design of transitions in leadership, ownership, and identity within a family — usually well before the moment of death. It is distinct from estate planning, which addresses the legal mechanics of transfer.
Working succession plans cover three layers: who leads (and how the leader is selected), who owns (and on what terms shares may move), and what the family stands for (and how that identity is transmitted). Plans without all three layers tend to fail at the inflection point.
Most families that test their plans through scenario exercises — sudden incapacity, unexpected exit, branch dispute — discover gaps that the written plan alone did not surface. Annual exercises and a five-year refresh cycle are common practice.
Related terms
Deeper reading
Succession planning for family offices: a 10-year operational framework
Only 30% of family businesses survive to the second generation. This operational framework maps the activities, governance structures, and communication protocols required for successful family office succession across a 15-year timeline.
Drafting a family constitution: A complete guide for multi-generational wealth
From drafting to ratification to maintenance, this comprehensive guide examines how family offices structure constitutions that balance authority, flexibility, and multi-generational alignment.
The Family Constitution: Why Most Wealth Transfers Stumble Without One
A working family constitution sets the rules of engagement before the disagreements arrive. Here is what it contains and the drafting process that gets a family to actually use it.
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