Growing up my dad was always a dedicated and diligent business man, but a private person. We always knew the broad facts about the businesses he ran, but were never in the loop about the particulars. This disconnect worsened when we moved to the United States in my early teens and dad kept looking after the businesses remotely, often traveling back and forth. We kept being taken care of but had little idea of how the businesses ran, the people involved and especially the numbers.
That all changed recently when he sat me and my siblings down and opened the books. It was overwhelming. Everything came spilling out: multiple businesses we didn’t know existed, business partners we’ve never met, a trust made on our behalf we didn’t know anything about, lawyers, lawsuits, millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts, properties etc. It was a lot to take in, we also learned he doesn’t have a will or estate plan in place.
He recently turned 65 and I think it dawned on him that he won’t be around forever. He grew up poor and has done an extraordinary job building all these businesses, but he has done little to prepare us to deal with them. We knew this would come up eventually but we were not prepared for the magnitude of activity he is involved in.
My siblings aren’t super interested in the business, as the eldest it’s my responsibility to work with him to make a plan.
I have my own income, career and plans to take care of but putting a plan in place to deal with this just became priority No 1. Also did I mention I live in Asia and he lives in the americas? Where do I begin?
If anyone has a similar experience please let me know how you dealt with it.
If anyone can help me find a book, format or document to think through and structure this information, that would also help.
Thanks!
Submitted August 26, 2020 at 09:12PM by mrfire6000 https://ift.tt/31ufgME
