Conflict Resolution for Family Businesses
Family Business Quarterly
by Philip R. Rosenblatt, Esq.
and Leonard H. Freiman, Esq
Dad had built the business from scratch into a major U.S. producer and worldwide distributor of specialty textile products. His dream had come true 15 years ago when both his sons entered the business. At his death, he was satisfied knowing that Cain had a firm grasp of operational manufacturing issues in the factories and that Abel was responsible for the explosion of the company’s worldwide distribution.
After worrying a great deal about who would inherit the business, Dad thought he had found the perfect solution: the two, with their compatible niches, would each inherit 50% of the company’s stock. Now, following Dad’s death, it seemed clear that the glue that had held the business together had been respect for or fear of him. Forty years of animosities, jealousies and hard feelings between the brothers had fueled business disputes that were threatening to destroy the company that had always been the repository of the family’s wealth and much of its history. More…