The future of a family's wealth is shaped less by markets than by how the transition between generations is prepared. A succession plan put in place too late, an unclear shareholding structure or an undivided estate can turn value built over decades into family disputes and deadlocked companies. At Arısoy Law, we advise family businesses, entrepreneurial families and high net worth individuals on the legal management of family wealth. We structure, from a legal perspective, the vehicles through which wealth is held, how it is protected, who takes decisions within the family and the business, and how wealth passes to the next generation.
Founded in 1990, our firm now works alongside its second generation. While advising our clients on generational transition, we have also gone through the same process within our own firm. Both our founding generation and our second generation serve on the board of TAİDER, the Family Business Association, which gives us close insight into the challenges family businesses face. On matters such as investment and portfolio management, accounting and tax filings, we work in coordination with families' accountants, tax advisers, valuation experts and financial advisers, and bring in trusted partners where needed. Through our Istanbul office and our London desk, which includes a solicitor registered in England and Wales, we offer families with assets or family members in more than one country a perspective that takes both legal systems into account.
We plan the transfer of management and ownership to the next generation by balancing the goals of the founding generation with the expectations of the next. Together with the family, we clarify who will work in the business, who will sit on the board and to whom, and on what terms, shares will be transferred. We set the timetable for the leadership transition, the criteria for selecting family members for management roles and the role of non-family professional managers.
We also build institutionalisation steps, such as appointing independent board members and separating management from ownership, into the succession plan. We put management and signing authorities in place in advance so that the company does not come to a standstill if the founder dies unexpectedly or loses capacity to make decisions. Where family assets are brought together under a holding or intermediate companies, we align the structure with the succession plan.
We work with families to prepare a family constitution (family charter) covering governance bodies such as the family assembly and family council, the employment of family members in the business, dividend policy and rules on share transfers. To ensure the family constitution does not remain a statement of good intentions, we reflect its provisions in the company's articles of association and in shareholders' agreements.
Through pre-emption rights, share transfer restrictions, exit and exclusion mechanisms and provisions protecting minority shareholders, we make decisions taken within the family legally binding. We also set out in advance how the shares of family members who wish to leave the business will be valued and acquired.
We begin estate planning by establishing a full picture of the family and its assets. This covers shareholdings, real estate, financial assets in Turkiye and abroad, the position of the heirs and the limits set by reserved portions under Turkish forced heirship rules. On this basis, we determine which instruments to use, such as wills, inheritance contracts, inheritance waiver agreements and lifetime gifts, and prepare these documents in line with the formal requirements of the law. By appointing an executor, we ensure that the wishes of the person leaving the estate continue to be carried out after their death.
We build the plan around the reserved portion rules, reducing the risk of future reduction claims. Through matrimonial property agreements, we protect family wealth and shareholdings. We also address in advance the effects that a family member's divorce may have on shareholdings and on the company's financial stability. We develop tailored solutions for situations such as second marriages and heirs who are minors or require special care.
As one of the tools for protecting family wealth, we advise on establishing foundations under the Turkish Civil Code, drafting the foundation deed and setting up the foundation's governance structure. As Turkish law does not recognise the trust, we assess the legal and tax consequences of trusts and foundations established abroad for family members resident in Turkiye. We take on the Turkish law aspects of establishing and administering these structures.
We support families wishing to set up a family office in building its legal framework. We structure the family office's corporate form, its relationship with family members and external service providers, its rules on authority and decision making, and its reporting principles. We ensure that the structure operates in line with the family constitution and the succession plan.
We design the legal structure of wealth transfers with regard to inheritance and gift tax, taxes arising from transfers of shares and real estate, and the tax consequences of restructurings. We plan the method and timing of the transfer with the tax burden in mind. We assess the structure's compliance with tax legislation and represent our clients in any tax disputes.
For families with members living in different countries, foreign citizenship or assets abroad, we establish at the outset of the planning which country's law will govern the estate and which rules will apply to real estate located in Turkiye. We assess the family's legal position before a change of residence or citizenship. We also advise on reporting and compliance obligations relating to assets held abroad. Through our London desk, we work with families who have assets or family members in England, taking the laws of both countries into account.
During the planning process, we anticipate potential points of conflict and include dispute resolution mechanisms in family constitutions, shareholders' agreements and testamentary dispositions. When a dispute arises, our priority is to reach a confidential resolution while preserving family relationships and the company's reputation. Drawing on the experience of both our founding partners as mediators, we conduct negotiation and mediation processes.
Where settlement is not possible, we represent our clients in reduction claims, claims concerning sham transactions by the deceased (muris muvazaası), actions to annul wills, division of estates and partition actions. In disputes between shareholders of family businesses, and in actions for the annulment of general assembly resolutions and concerning minority shareholder rights, we work together with our Commercial and Corporate Law practice. We also conduct arbitration proceedings arising from shareholders' agreements. Once a dispute has been resolved, we continue to support our clients in restructuring the company and the family framework so that the same issue does not recur in the next generation.