Steve Leimberg’s Business Entities Newsletter: Avi Z. Kestenbaum & the Family Business Succession Planning Crisis: A Call to Action

Avi Z. Kestenbaum, co-chair of Meltzer Lippe’s Trust & Estates practice group, provides commentary to practitioners concerning the fact that less than one third of family businesses successfully pass to the next generation. His commentary appears in the LISI Business Entities Newsletter #148, November 12, 2014).

He writes that “the statistics are shocking and sobering. Very few family businesses successfully transition to the next generations. Estate planners may be unaware of the true reasons for this and therefore may be unable to properly help our clients. What good is our planning and documents if the family business fails? We need to understand the reasons for the dismal statistics and learn from the family businesses that have flourished through more than one generation. There should also be much more learning and education on this subject especially as over the next several years many businesses are being transitioned. This commentary is an important call to action in a complicated and critical area that hasn’t received enough of our focus.”

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