What if your children don’t want the business you’ve spent 40 years building?

Tony Attard has spent nearly four decades building Panaz, his Lancashire textile business.

One of his sons already runs it. The plan was for the family to carry it on. Now he’s considering selling instead.

The Times reported this week that tax changes and rising costs have made Attard reconsider what happens to the business he founded.

His reasons are tax and costs. But his story made me think about a different question, one almost every family business eventually has to face.

Do the children actually want it?

You can spend 30 or 40 years building a business and naturally imagine the next generation carrying it on. Perhaps one child has worked alongside you for 15 years and can’t imagine doing anything else. Another might be perfectly happy being a teacher, architect or chef and have absolutely no desire to discuss EBITDA over Sunday lunch.

Then comes the harder question. What does fair actually mean?

Three children. Three equal shares.

Nice and tidy.

Except perhaps only one of them works in the business. One wants to sell. One wants to keep it. And suddenly Christmas is going to be interesting.

1.Tax has made these conversations more urgent

Since 6 April 2026, 100% Business Relief from Inheritance Tax is generally capped at £2.5 million per person of qualifying business and agricultural property. Qualifying value above that generally receives 50% relief. Any unused allowance can potentially transfer between spouses or civil partners, taking a couple’s allowance to £5 million.

For owners of valuable family businesses, that deserves proper planning.

2.But I wouldn’t start with the tax

I’d start around the kitchen table.

• Who genuinely wants to run the business?
• Who is best placed to do it?

or:

• Should the people running it also own it?
• Does treating your children fairly necessarily mean treating them equally?
• And what happens if selling the business gives everyone, including you, a better life?

These are much easier conversations to have while you’re still sitting at the table.

A Guardian piece this week looked at a similar question around wills: whether children should know what their parents have decided before they die. Wills specialist Gary Rycroft argued for transparency, because unexpected decisions can leave families wondering not just what they have inherited, but why.

You don’t need to turn every family meal into a board meeting.

But if your succession plan is going to shape your children’s lives, it seems reasonable to find out what they think about it before they inherit it.

A family business can be an extraordinary legacy.

It shouldn’t have to be an obligation.

True Wealth is freedom. For you, and for them.

Rob