Lupton Fawcett welcomed more than 50 family businesses and professional advisers to its recent family business seminar at Hazlewood Castle.
The Yorkshire law firm, which has offices in Leeds, York and Sheffield, has been advising family businesses for more than 100 years but it is the first time they have brought all the specialisms together to cover each aspect of succession and exit planning.
Topics covered included separation of ownership and control, wealth protection, personal tax planning, mitigating the risks of divorce and family breakdown to the business, and employment law issues.
In addition to Lupton Fawcett’s five presenters, guest speaker Dermot Callinan, a partner at accountant Saffery Champness, covered the topic of tax structuring used to pass businesses from one generation to another.
Speaking about the seminar, Amanda Simmonds, head of the family business team at Lupton Fawcett, said: “Nobody likes to contemplate their own mortality, or that of their loved ones, and often the task of planning for the future can seem daunting. This can tempt businesses to put off decision making, which increases the risks of succession problems arising and can limit the options available.”
“To help families and their businesses navigate through this difficult process, our specialist family business team, drawing expertise from across a range of legal disciplines, put together a free full morning seminar focusing on key legal issues involved in business succession.”
“Using real-life scenarios, our team looked at how, by careful planning and using the right structures, it is possible to balance the often competing priorities of family and business needs to manage a successful handover of the business to the next generation whilst preserving the legacy and wealth of the older generation.”
Following this seminar’s success, Lupton Fawcett is planning a series of presentations to help family businesses that will be held during 2018.
(Pictured, from left to right: Chris Burns, Joan Pettingill, Nicki Mitchell, Amanda Simmonds and Martin Frost)
