In a feature article published in the weekend AFR, reporter Michelle Bowes asks private wealth experts to unpick lessons from last week’s resolution of high stakes negotiations around the future of the Murdoch Family Trust.
ABL partner Christine Fleer is quoted extensively in the article, highlighting the reality that while trusts are flexible, they’re not as flexible as people think.
As families change through marriages, divorces, remarriages and a third generation reaching adulthood, aspirations and goals can change, and succession plans may need to be revisited.
“Structures don’t remain as appropriate for as long as people think,” Christine said. “Decades go on, things change, and you need to be revisiting your structures and thinking, are they still fit for the next 10 years?”
For example, if some siblings are working in the family business and others are simply shareholders, Christine explains that succession of both control and wealth can be more complex.
“It’s very hard to execute successfully where you’ve got one sibling running the business and the other siblings are shareholders because they’ll have different views on the business,” she says.
To read the full article, click here.
