Family disputes over shared assets, family businesses and other
commercial interests spring up quite frequently. As the businesses
expand and gain intricacies and complexity, families often aim to
delineate commercial control, ownership, and management interests
to achieve greater autonomy. Family settlements that allow for
amicable agreements can play a vital role in the distribution of
wealth and allocation of businesses/assets among family members.
This was aptly illustrated by the recent family settlement of the
Godrej group (particularly the aspects around the reorganization of
the shareholding of the promoter group in its listed entities),
which was intended to balance the varying perceptions of subsequent
generations as to, inter alia, strategic direction, growth
and governance of the various entities. This article analyses the
various legal and corporate governance issues that may be
encountered in such settlements.
