Practice Area
Family Business, Private Wealth & Succession Planning
Legal advisory for families, business owners and private wealth holders on ownership structures, governance and succession, supporting the orderly preservation, management and transfer of businesses and assets across generations.
Overview
We advise family businesses, family offices, business owners and private wealth holders on the legal structures governing ownership, control, governance and succession. The work ranges from structuring family ownership and governance arrangements to planning for the transfer of businesses, investments and other assets across generations.
Advice extends to family constitutions and governance frameworks, holding and investment structures, succession arrangements and the legal organisation of private wealth. We also support families in addressing the interaction between corporate ownership, inheritance considerations and the respective rights and responsibilities of family members involved in the business.
The objective is to create clear and sustainable legal arrangements that preserve business continuity and family wealth while reducing uncertainty around control, decision-making and succession. Where family interests extend across jurisdictions, the legal structure is considered in the context of the relevant businesses, assets and applicable legal regimes.
Key Areas of Work
Family Business Structuring, Restructuring & Governance
Family Constitutions & Ownership Frameworks
Succession & Intergenerational Legal Planning
Family Office Structuring, Governance & Advisory
Private Wealth & Asset Holding Structures
Family Investment Advisory
Wills, Waqfs & Trusts
Inheritance & Estate Advisory
Multinational Wealth Advisory
Selected Experience
Experience across family businesses, private wealth and succession
A selection of matters and projects reflecting the experience of the Lawarche legal team, including work undertaken by our consultants in senior roles prior to joining the firm.
Family Business Restructuring & Governance — GCC
Advised a number of GCC family businesses on identifying critical legal gaps and risks within their ownership structures and supported the restructuring and governance of their businesses to enhance stability and continuity or prepare the family business for external investment or potential listing on capital markets.
Family Business Succession & Ownership Restructuring — GCC
A senior member of our team advised on an internal and judicial dispute between second-generation family members of a GCC business group with a value exceeding £1 billion. The matter resulted in the restructuring of the ownership of the group’s holding company and its management arrangements to support business continuity, stability and succession across generations.
Intra-Group Asset Restructuring — Saudi Arabia
Advised a Saudi family business group on the legal restructuring of intra-group transactions and assets with an aggregate value equivalent to approximately £40 million, including debt-to-equity transactions between affiliated and subsidiary companies, to align the arrangements with applicable regulations and the group’s commercial structure.
Cross-Border Family Investment Structure — GCC
Advised a GCC family business group on cross-border investment portfolios and transactions, including the establishment of an investment fund with a value equivalent to approximately £10 million involving multiple companies and SPVs across several jurisdictions.
Wills, Waqfs & Family Wealth — GCC
Advised on the interpretation and implementation of the will of a prominent GCC private wealth holder with wealth exceeding £1.4 billion, including the legal and Sharia relationship between the will, the associated waqf and the heirs. Working with local counsel, the matter resulted in court judgments supporting the legal and Sharia position advanced. We subsequently provided legal advisory support to the waqf board on critical legal and Sharia matters.
Multinational Family Wealth Structuring
Advised family businesses on the legal structuring of assets and wealth held across multiple jurisdictions, including assessments of corporate structures, tax implications and the legal aspects of operating arrangements. The work also included restructuring companies held by family groups across GCC and non-GCC jurisdictions.
Related Expertise
Discuss Your Family Business & Private Wealth Matter
Speak with our team about family business structures, governance, succession, private wealth arrangements and complex intergenerational legal matters.