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 concern, and to provide guidance on the specific and complex relationships and issues that arise in this context.

This new guide, edited by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) (www.step.org), features chapters by leading practitioners in the field, including the Family Firm Institute, HSBC Private Bank, Boodle Hatfield and SandAire. The book considers what makes business families and family businesses unique, and examines the issues that advisers are often called upon to 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, structure, succession, wealth management, governance and meeting a family’s philanthropic objectives.