What needs to be taken into account when planning the succession process within my family?

With regards to inheritance law, planning to pass on your company within your family is particularly difficult – especially if your company forms the majority of your assets and you do not have sufficient assets to cover the statutory share to be paid to the other heirs. 

If one of your offspring is taking over the company alone, there are usually insufficient freely available assets to pass on to the other heirs. If these heirs then assert their claims under marital and inheritance law, it can lead to the company being split up. Company owners should therefore put in place a succession plan at an early stage, obtain specialist advice from experts and ensure that their instructions can also be enforced after their death.