Sons and daughters
Many families face a dilemma as to who should inherit when they have built up a family business. What is fair may not be what is best to protect the family business.
In Episode 3, Raymond and Jane considered carefully whether their farming business should be left to their eldest son, Greg, one of their four children. This would avoid the possibility of a forced sale of part of the business to buy out a sibling who wanted to extract their share. However, this was clearly not fair to the two other sons who also worked in the farming business nor the daughter, Emma, who was at University but was unlikely to want to get her hands dirty and join her brothers in the family business.
Raymond and Jane wanted to do whatever was necessary to safeguard the farming business but also recognised that fairness was important. It is often possible to satisfy both of these goals either with a trust or a partnership arrangement. A partnership is a contractual arrangement between the partners and enabled Raymond and Jane to recognise their children's different contributions to the farming business whilst preserving the possibility of Emma benefiting if there were a windfall, such as a sale of the farm.
Without discussion between the family, Emma would not have received an interest in the family business and this would have caused tension between Emma and her brothers following the death of their parents. The Episode also highlights that where there are sufficient non farming assets, the question of fairness may still be difficult as those inheriting the family business will often want to benefit from any liquidity.
