I see this more often than most families would expect.
A parent passes away. The family knows there was a will or a trust, and everyone agrees about who is supposed to receive the house. They assume the sale or transfer will be fairly straightforward.
Then someone looks at the deed.
Maybe the house was never transferred into the trust. Maybe a relative who died years ago is still listed as an owner. Sometimes the property is owned by an LLC, but the estate plan does not clearly address what happens to that LLC interest.
Suddenly, a house everyone thought was “taken care of” cannot be sold without additional legal work, delay, and expense.
The difficult truth is that putting your wishes in writing does not, by itself, clear title.
Reena Gulati Blog
When choosing an executor, most people focus on one question:
Who do I trust?
Trust is certainly important. However, there is another consideration that many families overlook: Where does your executor live?
In Parts 1 and 2, we reframed succession planning as a business survival strategy and not a “someday” project. We walked through the most common mistakes that quietly derail otherwise strong businesses. Now let’s talk about what a good plan actually looks like.
Most business owners don’t avoid succession planning because they’re careless. They avoid it because the business is busy, the future feels far away, and talking about it feels uncomfortable.
But succession planning rarely becomes urgent on your schedule.
It becomes urgent when someone gets sick. When a partner wants out. When a key employee leaves. When a buyer shows up with a real offer. Or when something happens that no one wants to imagine, and suddenly the business is expected to keep running anyway.
