We spend a lot of time worrying about whether the next generation is ready to take over a family business. But do we spend enough time thinking about whether the senior generation is ready to stop running it.?

Succession planning is not just about what happens when you retire. It is about ensuring the business can thrive without you.

Building wealth with a family business is only half the story. It’s also about how to protect it and pass it on.

A well-handled succession is one employees and customers barely notice. It feels less of a leap into the unknown and more like a natural next step.

Who will take over the business, when and how? These are the questions that keep family business owners awake at night.

Your succession plan has been drafted. The legal documents are signed. The structures are in place. Your Succession Plan Is Drafted, Sorted, Communicated and Left in the Drawer. What Now? The relevant people have been informed. The final versions have been securely filed away. The planning work feels complete. Then the principal becomes suddenly unavailable. What happens now? Who recognises that the plan needs to move from document to action? Who acts first? What infor

The release of Deloitte Private’s global Family Business Insights Series: Family Business Succession Planning and the Next Generation, 2026 reveals the experience family businesses have with succession planning in today’s environment and the challenges they face in preparing the next-generation for leadership. Based on a survey of 1,587 family businesses with revenues of at least US$100 million across 35 countries and in-depth interviews with 30 senior executives, the researc

For decades, family business owners across the UK could plan their succession around a simple assumption. Build the business, hold the shares, and pass them on at death largely free of inheritance tax. That assumption ended on 6 April 2026. The reform to Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief has fundamentally altered the maths of succession. Qualifying business and agricultural assets now receive full relief only up to £2.5 million per individual, or £5 mi

One of the clearest patterns among leaders who step down successfully is that they begin investing in interests, relationships and activities outside the business well in advance.

A change of Prime Minister, an unsettled tax outlook and a steady drumbeat of speculation about inheritance tax, business property relief and wider reform have left plenty of family business owners wondering whether this is the moment to accelerate succession, delay it, or simply hold their nerve.

There is a particular tension that sits at the heart of many multigenerational family businesses — one that is rarely spoken about openly, but that shapes some of the most consequential decisions a family will ever make.

There is a particular tension that sits at the heart of many multigenerational family businesses — one that is rarely spoken about openly, but that shapes some of the most consequential decisions a family will ever make.

There is something quietly remarkable about a family business that has been trading for a hundred years or more.

The gap between knowing that succession planning matters and actually doing it is one of the most consistent and consequential patterns in family business life.

By the time most family business founders get around to talking about succession, something has already gone wrong.

Letting go is not a sign of weakness or indifference. It is, in fact, one of the most courageous and strategic decisions a family business leader will ever make.

Succession is often spoken of as a single moment - the passing of the baton from one generation to the next. In reality, for family businesses it is much more complex, a process that spans years and demands foresight, negotiation, and a degree of humility.

With emotion, legacy, and strategy all intertwined, successful succession requires foresight, structure, and a willingness to confront difficult truths.

There is a particular weight that comes with inheriting more than a name. For the next generation of family business owners, succession is rarely just a career move—it is a deeply personal crossroads, where legacy, expectation, and identity collide.

Managing the shift in roles and responsibilities during transition can be complex, as family dynamics and emotions often come in to play.