Private Client
Succession Planning Before It Is Urgent
Succession structures created under pressure rarely reflect what the principal actually intended.
The decisions that matter in succession — who controls, who benefits, and who arbitrates between them — are best taken while the principal can explain the reasoning to those affected.
Structures should be tested against ordinary contingencies: incapacity, relocation, divorce within the beneficiary class, and the sale of a central asset. Each is common; each defeats an unexamined structure.
Clarity of intent, recorded contemporaneously, is the most effective defence against later challenge. Where discretion is conferred, the reasons for conferring it should be documented alongside it.
Review at defined intervals, and after any material family or asset event, is as important as the original structuring.
This article is general commentary and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship arises from reading it. Advice on a specific matter should be sought before acting.