Bertold Schmidt-Thomé presented the issue of Stiftung & Sponsoring magazine that he designed at the Pergamon Palais in Berlin. dtb rechtsanwälte from Berlin and TIGGES Rechtsanwälte from Düsseldorf have founded the PROMISSUM cooperation network to offer specialised succession advice. The topic of "Inheritance and Legacy" was jointly highlighted in the issue of the Red Pages.
"Death and Inheritance bring much sorrow" - so goes an old German proverb. To invalidate this proverb, good support is needed for estates per se. Succession issues in companies pose particular challenges. Complex issues, sensitive topics, lack of communication - this often leads to conflict constellations that require not only legal expertise but also psychological support. Why these advisory approaches complement each other and why it is worth keeping an eye on both is explained in this supplement in the interview "Very different systems collide" from a psychological and legal perspective, as well as in a specialist article on the "Psychology of Inheritance" from an advisory perspective.
If there are no successors in family businesses, the question of future viability arises. In some cases, the establishment of a foundation would be a good way to secure the legacy in the long term. The fact that the desire to set up a foundation alone is not enough is clear from the fact that there are many foundation models. You can find out which foundation models could be considered as part of a company succession and which tax law aspects should be taken into account in the article "Foundations in company succession".
Using a best-case scenario, artist Leiko Ikemura explains how the establishment of her Ikemura Foundation has already given her the artistic freedom to create - and at the same time the security that the care of her oeuvre will outlast her lifetime.
All these topics can only be touched upon in this issue of Red Pages. Nevertheless, the editors and contributors to this supplement hope that even this brief outline will meet with the interest of readers and thus stimulate further reflection, questions and other dialogue. If it helps one or the other to avoid grief in connection with their own succession planning, their own inheritance, their own foundation concept, it would have fulfilled their expectations.
The realisation that the issues of inheritance and bequests are complex and require diverse, special skills and perspectives and are often best dealt with in a team has encouraged us as publishers of this supplement to set up PROMISSUM , a network for coordinated succession advice. You will find an extract of our consulting approach, our convictions and our approach in the articles we have written in this supplement.