A Legacy Intact: a guide to safeguarding your family business in the event of divorce or relationship breakdown

In the UK and around the world, successful family businesses sit right at the heart of economies and communities. As drivers of growth, as employers, as innovators and philanthropists, their impact cannot be underestimated. Just like every family, every family business is unique and they face challenges other companies do not. When a shareholder’s marriage breaks down, family business’ financial and commercial wellbeing can be put at risk. Many owners are unaware of the full powers of the English Family Court when it comes to making financial orders on a divorce and the associated jeopardy to the business.

This comprehensive guide – ‘A Legacy Intact: safeguarding your family business in the event of divorce’, examines the risks for family businesses associated with divorce and relationship break down and highlights how, if not carefully handled, these risks can be cataclysmic for family businesses as well as heart-wrenching for the individuals involved. Sensible governance and succession planning is vital to any business – but particularly so for family-owned enterprises where communication between shareholders has an added emotional dimension.

Written by Partner, Katie O’Callaghan the guide details the legal mechanisms that are available to family businesses to protect their assets and avoid them losing control in future. It highlights the instruments that can be employed to avoid the severe repercussions of divorce that, in the worst-case scenario, can lead to the sale or transfer of shares, pensions and property. The guide highlights risks family businesses can face around loss of privacy, with the possibility of media access to financial proceedings and the measures that companies can consider to limit this exposure.

Download the full guide in PDF format here.

For more information, please contact:

Katie O’Callaghan, Family & Divorce Partner, Boodle Hatfield
+44 (0) 20 7079 8278
kocallaghan@boodlehatfield.com
https://www.boodlehatfield.com/biog/katie-ocallaghan/