The generational transfer of a business is an extremely important and delicate process, with significant repercussions both in the corporate and family spheres.

The needs typically felt by the entrepreneur are:

1. selecting those among the heirs who are most capable of continuing to manage the family business;
2. protecting the integrity of the corporate assets against third parties or unwanted family members, even beyond the entrepreneur’s lifetime;
3. maintaining control by the founding entrepreneur until their death;
4. ensuring continuity in the business management policy;
5. preventing conflicts among heirs, specifically among descendants;
6. preventing children and grandchildren from having full and autonomous control over the company interests, which could expose them to potential risks arising from their personal financial situations.

In setting up a Trust for the generational transfer of a business, the ownership of company shares is entrusted to the Trustee (i.e. the Trustee becomes a Shareholder of the Company); this ensures the unity of shareholdings, avoids fragmentation of the corporate structure, and maintains management under the current directors, without any discontinuity in governance policies.

The Beneficiaries of the Trust may include the entrepreneur themselves and their family members with regard to the income generated by the assets in Trust, while the descendants — as set forth in the trust deed — may benefit from the final allocation of the assets. This also allows the entrepreneur to achieve a gradual generational handover, with full awareness in choosing the corporate management (i.e. decision deferred over time), thus evaluating which heirs are most suitable (if any) to participate in the company’s life and which should only benefit from the civil proceeds related to the company shares held in Trust.

The Trust is therefore a tool capable of meeting all the entrepreneur’s needs thanks to its ability to unify ownership of the shares, regulate management methods and the exercise of corporate rights, and shield the assets transferred into the Trust fund from the individual financial affairs of the parties involved — unlike companies not segregated in a Trust, whose shares may be subject to claims by creditors.