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David Zaudtke Doug Ammerman 1 America is in the midst of one of the greatest wealth transfers in the history of mankind. Over the next 20 years, an estimated $15 trillion in assets will be transferred from one generation to the next. 2 Much of this wealth transfer will be in the form of family-owned businesses. But the viability of many of these transfers is questionable. The fact is, most will fail. Typically, only one out of three businesses is successfully transferred to the second generation. Survival of a family business into the third generation is a rare occurrence. 3 Thousands of family businesses, some of the household names, will disappear over the next decade. The sad part is that many of them could survive with proper planning. For many, however, it may already be too late. The proper time to start planning the succession of a family business is not one, not three, not even five years ahead. Indeed, a comprehensive succession plan, which includes sophisticated estate planning strategies, generally requires at least a 10-year horizon to be properly structured. 4 Whether large or small, high-tech or low, public or private, every family-owned business is different. But regardless of how diverse they are, four key elements must be in place before a business can be successfully passed from one generation to another. 5 Plan Your Succession ManagementPara 5 motivated, energetic Owners/founders are extremely driven and dynamic. Often they excel at more than one skill. In many cases, production experts are also marketing geniuses or skilled financiers. Replacing them may require more than one person. Therefore, family business owners should determine exactly how the business functions by creating organizational charts. Each key member of the succession process should create his or her own chart. These charts should then be compared. The differences will point to gaps in the management structure and highlight areas of misunderstanding and differences i