Most family business disputes are not caused by a lack of trust — they are caused by a lack of structure. When ownership, management, and family roles are not clearly documented and governed, ambiguity creates conflict. Our Family Business Advisory practice builds the legal and governance infrastructure that clarifies roles, protects relationships, and ensures that a business built over generations survives them.
Family Business Advisory Services
Family Business Governance Framework
Designing the governance architecture for family-owned businesses — separating ownership from management, defining decision-making authority, and formalising the rules by which the family participates in the business.
Family Constitution
Drafting a family constitution — the foundational document that records the family's shared values, principles for ownership and management, and rules for resolving disputes. Not a legal document but the agreed framework within which legal documents operate.
Succession Planning
Structured advisory on ownership and management succession — identifying successors, designing transfer mechanisms, and building a timeline that reflects the family's objectives and reduces tax and legal risk.
Private Trust Formation
Establishing private family trusts for estate planning, wealth management, and holding company structures — including trust deed drafting, appointment of trustees, and regulatory compliance.
Shareholder Agreements for Family Companies
Drafting SHA provisions specific to family businesses — buy-sell mechanisms, succession triggers, minority protection, and mechanisms for resolving shareholder disputes without litigation.
Business Transfer & Gift Structuring
Advising on the legal mechanism for transferring business interests within a family — gift, sale, exchange, or trust transfer — with attention to stamp duty, capital gains, and RoC implications.
Promoter Restructuring
Rationalising promoter shareholding structures — consolidating holdings, separating business and personal assets, and designing a clean ownership structure for the next generation.
Why This Cannot Wait
Succession is the single most disruptive event a family business faces. Most families acknowledge this — and most delay addressing it. The cost of delay is measured in family conflict, legal disputes, and businesses that do not survive the transition. The time to structure a succession is when the business is stable and the family is aligned — not when the founder is incapacitated or the next generation is already in dispute.
A family constitution and a well-structured shareholder agreement do not prevent change — they provide a framework within which change happens without destroying relationships or businesses.
Private Trusts — Structure and Use Cases
A private family trust can serve multiple purposes: holding business assets separately from personal wealth, enabling efficient estate planning, providing for dependants, or protecting assets from creditors. The trust deed is the foundational document — it defines the settlor's intent, the trustees' powers, and the beneficiaries' rights. We draft trust deeds tailored to the specific family structure and intent, and handle all regulatory formalities.
What You Get
- Family constitution — the agreed governance framework for family participation in the business
- Private trust formation — trust deed, trustee appointment, and regulatory compliance
- Succession plan — ownership transfer, management succession, and timeline
- Shareholder agreement provisions specific to family business dynamics
- Promoter shareholding rationalisation and business transfer structuring
- Direct advisory engagement with CS Akash Binoy across the full mandate