Salvatore and Maria, a retired couple, are the parents of Lorenzo, Andrea and Stefania.
They have a rather complex estate, including real estate, financial assets, a family business, and various holdings, with a total value of about €7 million.

Both of them made significant sacrifices for their family, especially for Andrea, who is a vulnerable individual. This caused them to neglect their other two children somewhat. Lorenzo and Stefania reacted to this lack of attention in opposite ways: Lorenzo is an extremely conscientious person who manages the family business alongside his parents, while Stefania has never been able to achieve complete emotional and financial stability.

Now that they are no longer young, Salvatore and Maria are thinking about how to pass on the family business and, more generally, their assets to their children in a fair way, while also taking their individual needs into account.

Summary of Proposed Solutions

In collaboration with the professionals I work with on asset protection and intergenerational asset transfer, I prepared a detailed report of all their assets and their priorities. The primary goals were to protect their son Andrea and to ensure the continuity and unity of the family business.

We created a structure of financial instruments to help Lorenzo and Stefania agree on the business and personal assets, accommodating their unique inclinations and characteristics. This was achieved through a Family Inheritance Agreement. Simultaneously, we used the provisions of the “After Us” law to ensure Andrea a future of care and security.

Specifically, the Family Inheritance Agreement guaranteed the transfer of the majority shares of the company to Lorenzo. His sister, Stefania, will also receive some shares and will be partly compensated with a portion of the liquid assets. For their brother Andrea, we decided to establish a dormant Trust to protect his future with adequate resources for assistance and care.

Beyond the size and complexity of this particular case, which has been simplified here for clarity, I believe that similar situations occur frequently.

With some adjustments, the solutions we adopted can be applied in other cases, even with smaller estates.

For example, the Trust, which I will dedicate a future blog article to, is an example of a protection tool that is often considered useful only for “large estates.” In reality, I believe it will be increasingly used for situations with assets valued at less than one million euros.

Do you see yourself in Salvatore and Maria’s situation?

Would you like to learn more about the strategies and tools used in this case, or in similar situations?

If you want to get a free second opinion, contact me for a no-obligation meeting.