Business Medication
Family Business Succession Mediation
The business can survive the handover. Most of the ones that fail were never argued out loud.
Private mediation for families deciding who runs the company, who owns it, and how the relatives who are not involved are treated fairly, with a neutral who understands both the estate plan and the business behind it.
Planning For Ownership And Leadership
Succession is two problems wearing one coat. There is the ownership question, which is legal and financial, and the leadership question, which is about who is trusted to run the thing. Families routinely solve the first and leave the second unspoken, then discover at the worst possible moment that nobody agreed.
The most common version looks like this. One child has worked in the business for fifteen years. Two have not. The founder wants to be fair to all three and does not want to break the company to do it. Nobody has said out loud what "fair" means, so everyone has quietly decided on a different answer.
A version of this also arrives after a death, when a business passes to people who have never run it and cannot agree on whether to keep it, sell it or hire someone.
Mediation gets those conversations into one room with a structure and a deadline. The aim is not a compromise everybody resents. It is a settlement that the business can actually operate under: who holds voting control, who receives value, how the non-involved family are provided for, and what happens if someone wants out later.
What this covers
Business Succession and Family Governance
Leadership succession where more than one family member expects it, or where nobody does.
Separating economic value from voting power, so those who are not running the business can still be provided for.
Balancing the child in the business against those outside it, using life insurance, other assets or non-voting interests.
Valuation formulas that are out of date, funding that no longer works, and triggering events the family has never discussed.
Siblings who inherited the business together and cannot agree on direction, distributions or a sale.
A founder who intends to step back but has not, and a successor who has stopped waiting.
Who is eligible to work in the business, on what terms, and who decides.
Whether to sell at all, when, and to whom, including a sale to management or to the next generation.
Establishing who has authority to make important business decisions when family members have different roles and interests.
What Is Included
Professional Advisor Coordination
A private intake call with each party before the session
A review of the trust, amendments, accountings and correspondence at issue
A half-day or full-day session, in person in Marina Del Rey or by secure video
Joint and separate sessions, whichever the parties are willing to do
A written settlement agreement drafted on the day, prepared to satisfy California Evidence Code section 1123
Coordination with each party's attorney, CPA or financial advisor where the settlement has tax or administration consequences
Business Mediation
Protecting The Business Through Mediation
Shareholder disputes consume the management attention the company needs to trade, and the legal costs come out of the same business everyone is fighting over.
A judge can order a buyout or dissolution. It cannot build the staged handover, the earn-out or the governance structure a family actually needs.
Filed disputes are public, and customers, lenders and key employees read them. Mediation is confidential under California Evidence Code sections 1115 to 1128.
In mediation the parties can agree a single neutral valuation rather than funding two opposing experts.
These are relatives as well as shareholders, and the dispute usually ends at a family table rather than a boardroom one.
Where a sale or a tax deadline is approaching, a settlement can be reached in weeks rather than after a trial date.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Protecting The Business Through Mediation
Founders planning a handover who can see disagreement coming.
Families where one child works in the business and others do not.
Siblings who have inherited a company together and cannot agree.
Co-owners in deadlock, whether or not they are related.
Families whose buy-sell agreement is out of date or was never funded properly.
Next-generation owners in conflict with a founder who has not actually stepped back.
Advisors and corporate counsel who need a neutral with both estate planning and business experience.
WHY WORK WITH ME
Where Business And Estate Planning Meet
Family business disputes sit on the line between company law and estate planning, and they are usually mishandled by someone who only knows one side.
I spent over a decade in trusts and estates, including at an established California firm, then went in-house at a registered investment adviser, where I saw how family wealth, a private company and an estate plan actually interact. I have been named to Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Trusts and Estates. I understand what a buy-sell does at death, how a trust holds business interests, what a transfer costs in tax, and why a valuation formula written in 2009 no longer describes the company.
In mediation I am a neutral. I do not represent any party or the company, and I do not give legal advice in that role. Each party is free to bring their own attorney, and where an operating business is involved I would expect corporate counsel to be close to the process.
How It Works
A Clear Path To Resolution
A short call with whichever party reaches out first. I explain the process, check for conflicts and confirm mediation is the right fit.
All parties sign an agreement covering confidentiality, fees and format. I then hold a private intake call with each side.
Half a day or a full day. Opening statements if the parties want them, then joint discussion and private sessions as needed.
If you settle, I draft the settlement terms before anyone leaves. If you settle in part, you leave with the remaining issues narrowed and a plan for them.
A follow-up call to confirm the agreed steps are happening, and coordination with each party's attorney where the settlement needs implementing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common Questions Before Booking
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Usually by separating ownership from control. The family member running the company takes the voting interest and the responsibility, and the others receive value another way: non-voting interests, life insurance proceeds, real estate, or a buyout funded over time. Splitting voting control equally between siblings who disagree about direction is the arrangement that most reliably fails. What "fair" means is the actual subject of the mediation, and it is better decided with everyone in the room than assumed.
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Often, yes. Two problems recur. The valuation formula no longer reflects what the company is worth, so the agreement either overpays or underpays whoever triggers it. And the funding may no longer work, particularly where the company owns life insurance used to redeem a deceased owner's shares, which since the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Connelly v. United States can increase the value of that owner's estate. Both are worth reviewing with counsel before they are tested. Mediation can resolve a disagreement about revising the agreement.
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Yes, and urgency is usually an argument for mediation rather than against it. Sessions can be scheduled within weeks. Where the company needs an immediate decision, the parties can agree interim arrangements on the day, such as who signs, how distributions are handled and what is paused, while the longer-term terms are finalized.
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That is common and it is worth saying plainly: mediation is voluntary, so it cannot happen without them. What often changes their mind is framing it as planning rather than dispute. A facilitated family meeting, before anyone is in conflict, is a different proposition from a mediation about an argument already underway. That version is covered on the Pre-Dispute Estate Planning Mediation page.
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For a matter involving an operating business, I recommend it. Each family member's interests genuinely differ, and the settlement usually has tax and corporate consequences that need advice. Corporate counsel will also be the one implementing whatever is agreed. As mediator I am neutral and I advise nobody, including the company.
BOOK A FREE CONSULTATION
Start With a Conversation
If a trust dispute is building in your family, the cheapest moment to deal with it is now, before positions harden and before the legal fees start coming out of the trust. Call 310.853.2667, email info@honeybrookslaw.com, or use the booking form.