Dealing with Business Owner or Family Member Marginal Competency Dilemma

The good news is that we are living longer and have more time to develop and deploy a business succession plan. The bad news is that many of us will outlive our mental capability while filling important management and leadership roles within the family business. Unfortunately incompetence is usually the result of a cognitive capacity transition that is stressful for both family and management. The no-man’s land of marginal competency creates a dilemma which can imperil family harmony and the welfare of the business.  The question is, should you mind your own business and repress your stress or should you call the question and run the risk of offending parent(s), family, friends, management and advisers? Based upon my experience both options compare to a root canal without Novocain.  Such is the nature of a family business dilemma; damned if you do and damned if you don’t.  Dealing with potentially marginally competent business owners or leaders is an unfortunate, emotionally volatile, pathetic family business predicament. To read the end of this blog, click here.

How to Prepare for the Disability or Incompetence of a Business Owner

There is much estate planning discussion in the family business arena about incompetency. The classic result is that most estate plans include provisions for a designated party, usually a child or sibling to assume responsibility and control of a family member’s, usually a parent’s, business affairs in the event of disability or incompetence.  The goal is to avoid a very formal and cumbersome guardianship that in addition to the ongoing administrative expenses opens the family’s private affairs up to public scrutiny. The mechanisms for administratively assuming responsibility outside of a formal guardianship is a Durable Power of Attorney or the successor trustee provisions of a Living Revocable Trust.  The typical qualifier for these two mechanisms is usually affidavits from two independent physicians that the parent is unable to attend to their customary business affairs. To read the end of this blog, click here.