An international institution for Independent Neutral Evaluation
Find a Neutral

HomeWho it’s forFamily enterprises & private wealth

TN/AUD/02
Edition 2027 · effective 1 January 2027

For family enterprises & private wealth

A family business is two systems sharing one table.

The family wants harmony. The business needs decisions. Owners need fairness. When the three collide (over succession, dividends, roles or exits) a Neutral gives the family a process that is fair to all three.

Frame your questionRequest an evaluation

§ 01What you really need

Five needs, in your words.

Drawn from how people in your position actually describe the problem, not from procedure.

(Needs)

Succession that feels legitimate

To those who lead and to those who do not.

Separating family and business

Different forums for different questions.

Fair numbers

Independent valuations when buy-outs or dividends divide the family.

A family constitution

Rules written in calm times for difficult ones.

Continuity

Someone who stays with the family through transition.

What usually goes wrong: treating succession as a single announcement; letting the founder’s will be the plan; using the company’s lawyer as the family’s Neutral.

(Avoid)

Frame your question Commissioning guides

§ 02The cost of waiting

What the evidence says.

Sourced and dated. Use the calculator to estimate your own.

61%

Family business leaders who say the family has a succession plan, leaving nearly four in ten without one.

PwC Global NextGen Survey 2022 · 2022 ↗
5.1bn

People with at least one unmet justice need: a broad 2019 estimate that also counts legal exclusion and extreme injustice.

World Justice Project, Measuring the Justice Gap · 2019 ↗

Estimate what a conflict is costing you →

§ 03Evaluation for you

6 questions people in your position bring to an evaluator.

Leadership succession readiness01Strategy & board decisionsEvaluation PanelAre the candidates and the organisation ready for this succession, and on what evidence?Testing an investment thesis02Transactions & investmentClarity DeepView™Does the evidence support the investment thesis, and where is it weakest?A valuation people dispute03Transactions & investmentClarity DeepView™What is a fair value range for this asset or interest, on agreed assumptions?A shareholder or partner difference04Differences & disputesEarly Neutral EvaluationWhose reading of the agreement is right, and what are the realistic ways out?A fair division of an estate05Families & private wealthClarity Snapshot™Is this proposed division fair, given the will, the assets and what each person has already received?A family business choice06Families & private wealthClarity DeepView™Which option for the family business best serves its owners, its future and the family?

§ 04Situations you may face

5 situations where a Neutral helps.

Inheritance and estate01Personal & familyMediation · FacilitationA parent has died. The family must now decide together what one person used to decide alone.Shared property02Personal & familyNeutral Evaluation · MediationSeveral people own one asset. Each has a different plan for it.Shareholder deadlock03Ownership & businessNeutral Evaluation · Mediation · Neutral ChairingThe company still needs decisions. The shareholders cannot make them together.Family business succession04Ownership & businessFacilitation · Neutral Evaluation · Standing NeutralThe founder will step back. The family has not agreed who steps forward.Siblings who own together05Ownership & businessNeutral Chairing · MediationBrothers and sisters inherited a company. They did not inherit a way to run it together.

§ 05Roles that fit

The Neutral roles people like you use most.

  1. FacilitationHow does a group move forward together?01
  2. Neutral ChairingWho runs this meeting fairly?02
  3. Standing NeutralWho is there before the problem becomes a dispute?03

§ 06How we can help

Evaluation services for people in your position.

Fixed quote after scope review, or staged for complex matters

Clarity DeepView™

A full Independent Neutral Evaluation™ with the twelve-part report of the Handbook (NP 6.3): mandate, evidence, issue-by-issue analysis, risk and uncertainty, calibrated conclusions and stated limitations. Sold against a specific question and deliverable, not a template.

Annual retainer plus Snapshots as used

Standing Evaluator

A qualified evaluator appointed at the start of a relationship, kept informed, and available to give an independent view whenever a question arises. Activation rules, response times and information access are written into the agreement.

Fixed quote after conflict and scope review

Clarity Snapshot™

A short, reasoned written view on a single, precisely framed question, within tight limits agreed at scope review: a small document set, no interviews and no findings of fact on contested evidence. It is not a substitute for a full evaluation, an investigation or regulated specialist work.

First stepsFor family enterprises & private wealth
Three thingsto do this week.
01 Map ownership, governance and management separately
02 Hold a facilitated family council
03 Appoint a Standing Neutral through transition
Clarity first · keep options open · make fairness visible

§ 07Frame your question

Describe it. Get the evaluation question.

Written for family enterprises & private wealth. Leave out names and confidential details.

Write in your own words. Leave out names and confidential details.

Explain neutrality to me as…

Your question (optional)

Connecting…

The answer

Choose who you are and ask anything. The engine answers from the institution’s own guidance, in plain language.

§ 08Read next

Go deeper.