12 Aug When the problem is not just the business
When the problem is not just the business: how to approach your business, family and personal future
Generational succession, selling the business, family conflicts, personal assets, widowhood and business continuity: decisions that many business owners have to face after a lifetime of work
There are business owners who have spent thirty, forty or even more years running a small or medium sized business. During all that time, they have had to find customers, pay salaries, negotiate with suppliers and banks, adapt to technological change, overcome crises and make decisions that have shaped both their business and their own lives. In many SMEs, particularly family businesses, it is difficult to understand the history of the company without also understanding the story of the person or family behind it.
As the years go by, however, different questions begin to arise. How long do I want to continue working, and how long can I maintain the same level of involvement? Could the business operate without me having to oversee it every day? Who will take over when I decide to step away from management? Do my children want to take over the business, and are they genuinely prepared to do so? Would selling be a better option? What consequences would that decision have for my personal assets and my family? Have I properly planned my succession?
Sometimes personal circumstances have also changed. The person with whom the business was built may have passed away, problems may have arisen with children or disagreements between siblings, or a point may simply have been reached in life when the same level of responsibility is no longer desired. This is when the problem ceases to be solely about the business and it becomes necessary to consider the business, family, financial and personal future together.
A business can be doing well and still require important decisions
An SME does not have to be making losses for its owner to face important decisions. The business may be profitable, have good customers and an established activity, yet the time may come when the owner begins to consider how much longer they want and are able to remain in charge with the same degree of commitment and responsibility.
There is also a limit for those who run a business, although it does not necessarily coincide with a particular age or with formal retirement. After thirty or forty years of work, a person may want to reduce their involvement, place certain responsibilities in other hands or simply have more time for their own life. This is precisely when it becomes important to ask whether the business is capable of operating without being permanently dependent on the person who has managed it for so many years.
In other cases, the situation may be very different. The company may have lost customers, margins may have fallen, cash flow may have become increasingly difficult and the owner may have been making personal financial contributions for some time in order to keep the business running. Before continuing to put more money into the company or making a rushed decision, it is necessary to understand what kind of business we actually have in front of us.
This means analysing turnover, results, margins, customers, costs, debt, cash flow, organisational structure and future prospects. But there is another question that can be particularly revealing: could this business operate properly without its owner having to be permanently involved in its day to day running?
Depending on the answer, it may make sense to continue, reorganise certain areas, professionalise the management, prepare a generational succession, look for a buyer or consider an orderly exit. The aim is not to save a business at any cost, but to understand its situation and decide which alternative makes the most sense both for the business and for the person who has supported it for many years.
Generational succession does not always have to take place within the family
For many years, it was often taken for granted that children would continue the business created by their parents. Reality shows that this does not always happen and that it is not necessarily the best solution.
A son or daughter may be an excellent professional but have no interest whatsoever in running the family business. Another may want to continue it but still need further experience or training. There may also be several siblings while only one of them works in the company, raising important questions about future ownership, management and inheritance.
Preparing a generational succession means discussing these matters before circumstances force decisions to be made in a hurry. In some businesses, family continuity will be a good option, while in others it may be preferable to bring in professional management or consider selling the business. The important thing is not to automatically confuse business continuity with family continuity.
When one of the two is no longer there
Many small businesses have been built over decades by married couples or partners. Even if one of them was formally recognised as the person in charge of the business, important decisions were often shared, with each person knowing different aspects of the company. One may have dealt primarily with customers or production, while the other handled administration, banking or financial matters.
When one of them dies, widowhood does not only mean dealing with a personal loss. The surviving partner may suddenly find themselves in charge of a business that must continue operating while having to make alone decisions that had been shared for many years. Corporate, financial, estate and succession issues that had never previously been considered may also arise.
If we add to this the fact that the surviving person may also have reached a stage when they are beginning to consider how long they want to remain in charge of the business, and there may be no clear generational successor, the question can no longer be limited to what the company needs. It is also necessary to ask what the person who remains in charge wants to do and how they wish to organise the coming years of their life.
Business, family and personal assets can become intertwined
In many SMEs, the owner may have personally guaranteed transactions, lent money to the company or used personal resources to meet the needs of the business. At the same time, they may own homes, commercial premises, savings or other assets that form part of the wealth they have built over many years and which should also be considered in light of their future needs.
Family circumstances also surround those assets. There may be children who are financially dependent on their parents, disagreements between siblings, separations, unresolved inheritances, difficulties in family relationships or particularly complex personal situations. In such circumstances, a business decision may have significant family consequences and, conversely, a family conflict may seriously affect the future of a business.
For this reason, these situations cannot always be resolved simply by looking at the profit and loss account. It is necessary to understand how much the owner will genuinely need for their own future, what proportion of their personal assets is tied to the business, what risks they are taking and to what extent particular business decisions may affect their personal position.
What about the will and the future inheritance?
When considering generational succession, the sale of a company or a future withdrawal from management, another important issue deserves attention: what consequences might these decisions have for the owner’s will and succession planning?
What will happen to the shares in the company when the owner dies? Does it make sense for all the children to inherit the same share of the business if only one of them works in it? What happens if none of them wants to continue? How might selling the company affect the future inheritance? What happens when a significant part of the owner’s wealth is concentrated in the company, in commercial premises used by the business or in other property?
It is also worth remembering that many wills were made years ago, when the business and family circumstances were completely different. Since then, the company, personal assets and family relationships may have changed, one member of the couple may have died or new circumstances may have arisen that make it advisable to reconsider decisions made many years earlier.
This does not necessarily mean changing a will simply because a business owner has reached a certain age. It means checking whether the succession planning still reflects the current circumstances and what the person genuinely wants to happen to their assets and their business.
Personal conflicts are also part of the problem
Throughout this process, conflicts may arise between business partners, siblings, parents and children, different generations within a family business, employees or former employees. Even a potential sale can generate disagreements when several people have different interests.
Some problems will require a legal response, others will need financial, tax or business analysis, and others may require bringing several people together around the same table. Negotiation, mediation and conciliation can be particularly useful when there is still room to reach an agreement and the aim is to prevent a conflict from damaging family relationships, personal assets or a business that could otherwise remain viable.
Separating personal issues from strictly business matters, understanding what each person genuinely needs and organising the different interests involved can reveal possibilities that are difficult to see when every problem is being addressed at the same time.
Take time to think, but avoid becoming paralysed
Decisions of this importance should not be made hastily. Selling a company, bringing a son or daughter into management, reorganising the business, putting personal assets at risk, changing succession planning or deciding to leave an activity built over several decades are matters that require information, reflection and, in many cases, professional advice before any step is taken.
This is precisely why I also offer a consultation service before decisions are made. Someone seeking professional advice does not always need to begin a negotiation, mediation or legal process immediately. Sometimes what they need is an opportunity to explain the situation, organise the available information, consider the different alternatives and understand their possible consequences before deciding which course to follow.
However, taking time to think does not mean postponing decisions indefinitely. My experience in business has also taught me that failure to make a decision can eventually become a decision in itself, and not always the right one. A company may be able to withstand the loss of customers, an unsuitable structure, a conflict between business partners, cash flow difficulties or management problems for a certain period, but if these situations continue for months or years, the room for manoeuvre may gradually become smaller.
Some decisions need time to mature, but they also need to be made at the right moment. Waiting too long can reduce the value of a business, consume personal resources, worsen a conflict or turn a difficulty that could still have been resolved into a much more serious problem. In some situations, by the time a decision is finally made, some of the alternatives that were originally available may already have disappeared.
That is why finding the right balance is so important. Decisions should not be rushed, but neither should we remain inactive while problems continue to grow. The situation should be analysed, the different options considered, professional advice obtained where necessary and, once sufficient information is available, a decision should be made.
First, we need to know which problem we are trying to solve
When business, financial, legal, family and personal asset issues accumulate, the first mistake is probably trying to solve them all at once. It is more useful to identify the different problems, establish priorities, obtain the necessary information and determine which professionals should be involved in each matter. In some cases, it will be necessary to work together with accountants, tax advisers, business advisers, notaries or other specialists, because a complex situation can rarely be approached effectively from a single perspective.
My many years of experience in business management, combined with my professional practice as a lawyer, registered mediator and private conciliator, allow me to approach these situations from different perspectives. Understanding the figures and how a business operates is important, but so is understanding the legal consequences of particular decisions and knowing how to work with people when family or personal conflicts also lie behind a business problem.
The solution will not always be to continue. It may involve reorganising the company, preparing a generational succession, negotiating a conflict, bringing in professional management, finding a buyer, selling the business, reviewing personal asset and succession arrangements or, where there is no reasonable alternative, preparing an orderly exit from the activity.
After a lifetime of work, there comes a point when it is worth considering not only what future we want for the business, but also what future we want for ourselves and how our decisions may affect the people around us. It is also worth doing so early enough to ensure that there are still different alternatives available from which to choose.
For this reason, before deciding what to do, it may be worth starting with an apparently simple question that is often the most difficult one to answer: what is the real problem we need to solve?
Barcelona, 12 August 2026
Daniel Sererols Villalón
Lawyer, registered mediator and private conciliator
Tel. 661 463 306
daniel@mediadorconflictos.com
