Family wealth and succession · Czechia and Slovakia
Family holding company and succession
Passing a business to your children is a transaction that cannot be reversed, yet it is most often arranged without a contract, through promises over Sunday lunch. We build your family holding structure and succession rules: who manages, who owns, how profits are shared, what happens in a disagreement and how the founder is protected. In Czechia, Slovakia and across borders, from one office.
- Lawyer registered with the Czech and Slovak Bar Associations
- Structure and relationships in one project
- Stage prices agreed in advance
What we'll do for you
Succession is a sequence of steps, not one document: structure, transfers and rules. We divide the project into stages and you know the price before each one.
Select an item to see the details.
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Mapping and proposal
We map the companies, assets, family and everyone's expectations, then propose a structure and handover timetable, including options for different family scenarios.
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Family holding company
Establishing the holding structure and transferring ownership interests into it, including lawyer-authorised agreements and register entries in Slovakia and Czechia.
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Succession rules
An intergenerational shareholders' agreement separating management from ownership, with conditions for children joining, rules for partners and spouses, distributions to family members outside the business and deadlock solutions.
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Founder protection
Control rights, income and intervention rights for the founder during the transition — the handover can be gradual, with reversal arrangements agreed in advance.
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Alignment with inheritance
We link the structure to inheritance-law instruments in cooperation with a notary, so the arrangements withstand an unexpected event. Your tax adviser handles the tax implications; we coordinate with them.
Deliverablea family holding structure with succession rules, including transferred ownership interests, shareholders' agreements and documentation for the next generation
How it works
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- Consultation and mappingday 0
A discussion of the business, family and objectives — often the first with everyone at the table. The output is a proposed structure and plan.
- Structure
We establish the holding company and transfer ownership interests in stages that respect the family's pace.
- Rules
Shareholders' agreements, succession rules and founder protection — signed before they are needed.
- Handoveryears, according to the plan
Gradual transfers and adjustments under the agreed plan — with us as the family's ongoing legal partner.
Slovak and Czech businesses established in the 1990s are undergoing their first major generational transition — most without written rules. Yet succession is the moment that determines whether a company will outlive its founder.
A family holding company with succession rules does not express distrust of the children. It is the founder’s last major management task: passing on both the assets and an orderly way of running them.
No-obligation enquiry
Ready to start?
Send us an enquiry. We reply within 24 hours with a price confirmation and next steps. The first 30-minute consultation is free and commits you to nothing.
- 1Send your enquiry via this form
- 2Within 24 h you get a price confirmation and plan
- 3We start work only after your approval
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Or email us about this matter.
What clients ask
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When should we start planning succession?
Ideally before it becomes necessary, while the founder is active and decisions are considered rather than made under pressure. Building the structure takes months; the handover takes years. The worst moment is one that circumstances choose for you.
Why use a holding company instead of transferring interests directly to the children?
A holding company can facilitate unified group management and succession at parent-company level. It is not, however, the only route. Depending on the objective, the founder's influence may also be preserved through a direct transfer of part of the ownership interests, adjustments to voting rights and appropriate governing-body arrangements. We compare both options according to the family's assets and needs.
One child works in the company and another does not. How can this be fair?
By separating management from ownership. The child running the business needs decision-making powers and remuneration for work; the child outside it needs a share in its value and clear distribution rules. A shareholders' agreement can establish different classes of rights, priority distributions and a buyout mechanism — fairness here means rules accepted by everyone in advance, rather than identical figures.
What about the children's spouses and partners?
A sensitive and important question — without specific arrangements, an interest acquired during marriage may become marital joint property and, on divorce, end up with someone outside the family. Transfer restrictions in the shareholders' agreement, family pre-emption rights and appropriate matrimonial property arrangements address this — for the latter, we recommend a notary we work with.
Can this work when some companies are in Czechia and others in Slovakia?
Yes — we are equipped precisely for such families. As lawyers registered with both Bar Associations, we build the structure across both countries from one office: transfers, lawyer's authorisations, register entries and agreements under the law required by the structure.
Legal Q&A
Common questions on this topic
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Can I, as a customer, be liable for VAT my supplier has not paid?
Yes. A VAT payer receiving goods or services is liable for tax at the preceding stage if the supplier has not paid it and, when the tax liability arose, the customer knew or should and could have known that it would remain unpaid. The Act lists three sufficient grounds for such knowledge: an unreasonable price, shared personnel or ownership between the parties, and payment to a bank account other than the supplier's published account.
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Is VAT payable on the sale of an enterprise or part of one?
Generally not. The sale of an enterprise, or part forming an independent organisational unit, is not treated as a supply of goods or services if the buyer is a VAT payer or becomes one by law. However, the buyer becomes the seller's legal successor for the assets transferred. If the seller does not provide information about VAT deducted on capital goods, the Act presumes a full deduction.
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Does a new company created by a merger pay minimum tax in its first year?
Yes. The minimum tax exemption for a newly formed taxpayer expressly excludes a taxpayer that is the legal successor of one dissolved without liquidation. A successor company created by a merger into a new company or a division therefore pays minimum tax for the period covered by its first tax return. For a period shorter than twelve months, the amount is calculated proportionately.
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Further reading
Family business succession: transferring to children during your lifetime
Leaving a family business handover to inheritance is the most expensive option: several heirs may share one interest and block decisions. Lifetime succession relies on staged transfers, an agreement between generations and often a holding structure.
Read more →
Legal due diligence before buying a company: what is checked and what usually emerges
Pre-acquisition legal due diligence examines the chain of share transfers, customer contracts, employment, software and registers. The result is practical: findings shape representations and warranties, purchase-price escrow and price adjustments.
Read more →
Moving a company between Slovakia and Czechia: conversion without liquidation
Since March 2024, a company can move between Slovakia and Czechia as a whole, without liquidation, a successor or transferring contracts. Cross-border conversion under Act No. 309/2023 Z. z. preserves its identity while changing its legal form and registered-office state.
Read more →