Death is unpredictable, so we need to prepare our successors

We don’t like thinking or even talking about death, but it’s essential that we prepare our family and business successors for the event. Have you done so?

- Peter Hughes

A dear friend and business partner recently lost his vibrant and highly efficient wife. With no signs of ill health beforehand, she suffered traumatic heart failure and was gone in an instant.

It was a hammer blow, but a month later and still grieving deeply, the wheels of life for him and his children are moving forward as before. It’s thanks to the preparations they made to deal with succession in the family.

I know it’s morbid, but it’s a question we all need to ask ourselves. How well will your family and business successors cope after your death? Will your wife and children be able to handle the immediate tasks of winding up your estate? Will they be capable of handling the household and family tasks you previously managed and speedily get on with their lives? Succession plans don’t relieve grief, but they make it easier for life to carry on as before.

The same questions apply, perhaps even more so, with regard to organisations in which you are involved. If you’re part of a business that bears responsibility for the livelihoods of people, it’s vital that you have a personal succession plan in place.

In a family business it’s crucial that preparation has been made to fill the gap created by your demise. Drawing up a succession plan in a family business is an emotional task, but if not done, levels of emotion and risk of conflict are far greater.