A succession plan that protects both the company and the family.
From the family constitution to the structuring of share transfer, and from wills and the matrimonial property regime to the contingency management plan — we secure the continuity of the family business across both countries.
An integrated legal framework for Family Businesses & Generational Succession
In family businesses, the greatest risk lies not in the market but at the table: an unplanned generational transfer, undefined authority, and unwritten rules can divide even the healthiest company. In Türkiye and across the Turkish-German diaspora, countless enterprises lose value at this threshold.
From the family constitution to share transfer and succession planning, from management transition to the prevention of disputes among partners, we design structures that safeguard both the company's continuity and the family's balance.
Services We Offer in This Focus Area
In the Family Businesses & Generational Succession focus area, we bring together the relevant legal disciplines into a single work plan.
Family Constitution
The rules governing the family-company relationship: binding design of the principles for entry, role, profit, and decision-making.
Explore →Share & Management Transfer
Gradual planning of the intergenerational transfer of shares in its tax and management dimensions.
Explore →Succession & Will Planning
Predictable succession through wills, waivers of inheritance and equalisation instruments.
Explore →Holding & Foundation Structures
Long-term protection of ownership through a family holding or foundation.
Explore →Governance & Boards
The design of the family council, the board of directors and the transition to professional management.
Explore →Balance Among Partners
Shareholders' agreement, exit mechanisms and dispute-prevention provisions.
Explore →A team that keeps law, tax, and family sensitivity at the same table
Generational succession is not only a legal but also an emotional process. With our team, which attends to family dynamics and, where needed, leads the table with mediation training, we build structures that are technically sound and embraced by the whole family.
- Integrated planning across corporate, succession and tax law
- Experience with two-country structures for Turkish-German diaspora families
- Sensitive negotiation management grounded in mediation training
- A data-driven plan built on estate and asset investigation
- Durability through post-transfer governance monitoring
Related Practice Areas
The legal disciplines this focus area draws on.
Related Services
Our services most often engaged in this focus area — together with their scope.
Corporate Structuring
We manage corporate structuring and restructuring processes end to end, including group structures, holding company formation, capital transactions, conversion of company type, and demerger. From analysis and design through to registration, we deliver scalable solutions compliant with the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK).
Explore →General Assembly & Management
We fully manage ordinary and extraordinary general assemblies, board of directors' resolutions, and representation processes. From the agenda to the minutes, from registration to documentation, we safeguard corporate operations.
Explore →Heirship & Estate Investigation
Who are the heirs, and what does the estate comprise? From civil registry and land registry records to bank accounts and company shares, we handle the identification of heirs and the documentation of all the estate's assets and liabilities end to end, including along the Türkiye–Germany corridor.
Explore →Legal Opinions & Advisory Memoranda
Board resolutions, major contracts and regulatory questions should be managed not through verbal advice but through a reasoned written opinion. We prepare legal opinions and advisory memoranda focused on your specific question, with an actionable conclusions section.
Explore →Legal Audit & Check-Up
Contracts, corporate records, permits and compliance processes age unnoticed and accumulate risk. Through periodic legal audits, we systematically scan your company's entire legal order, report the risks in order of priority, and close them.
Explore →Related Sectors
The sectors this focus area touches often.
Chambers of Commerce
Governance, member services, events, collaboration, data and compliance advisory for chambers of commerce and business organisations.
Explore →Real Estate & Construction
Real estate development, construction, leasing, sales, zoning, due diligence, contractor agreements, and dispute processes.
Explore →Automotive
Contract, compliance, investment, and dispute advisory across the automotive value chain for OEMs, suppliers, distributors, and investors.
Explore →Iron & Steel
Advisory services on industrial production, raw material supply, energy, exports, ESG, occupational safety, and commercial disputes.
Explore →Related Regional Desks
Our cross-border and specialist desks that run this focus area.
Track Record: Selected Matters
Anonymised examples of our work in this focus area, including the approach, process and outcome.
Establishing a family constitution and share-transfer structure
Making a family constitution binding through the articles of association, share-transfer restrictions and a shareholders' agreement.
Review the matter →Inheritance and will planning for assets in two countries
Consistent planning across two legal systems of the will, matrimonial property regime and company-share structure for assets in Türkiye and Germany.
Review the matter →A backup management plan against the founder’s sudden absence
Establishing a power-of-attorney and decision-making framework for the seamless transfer of signature, banking and management authority in the event of sudden illness or loss.
Review the matter →Team in This Focus Area
Family Businesses & Generational Succession and meet our experienced multilingual team.
An inter vivos transfer offers flexibility in control and tax planning; testamentary dispositions may run up against reserved-share balances. By separating usufruct and management rights, hybrid models can be built — we design the balance specific to each family.
Each country's inheritance and tax regime differs; for shares and real property in Germany, the EU Succession Regulation and local tax rules come into play. On the Türkiye–Germany axis, we set up the planning with instruments valid under both bodies of law.
In itself it is most often a memorandum of understanding; its force comes from its provisions being written into binding instruments such as the articles of association, the shareholders’ agreement and wills. We build the constitution together with this legal infrastructure.
The ideal time is years before the handover comes onto the agenda; tax advantages and a gradual transfer of authority take time. Planning done during the founder’s lifetime eliminates the risks of the forced division that comes with inheritance.
This is the most frequent source of tension. With voting-privileged shares, a separation of profit and management, purchase options and equalisation payments, structures can be built that fairly reflect both work and ownership. We refine the options by negotiating them within the family.
The inheritance and tax laws of both countries come into play together; a flawed setup creates the risk of double taxation and invalid dispositions. With our Berlin-İstanbul team, we design the plan so that it is valid under both legal systems.
Let's build a legal strategy in the Family Businesses & Generational Succession focus area.
Let's assess your needs together with the relevant practice areas, sectors, and regional desks.