Dividing business a difficult choice for father
Q My father has solely operated his own business for 30 years, providing a comfortable lifestyle. As he nears retirement, my older brother and I have both shown interest in the business. I left my profession of teaching six years ago, apprenticed and became a licensed technician in my father’s industry.
However, he feels he can’t choose between two sons.
Unless we come to an agreement, he’ll sell to a third party.
My brother barely finished high school and openly expresses disregard for the value of education.
He has zero business experience and brings next to nothing to the table. Yet he’d rather see my father sell the business to someone else, than to me.
But I’d rather he sell it to my brother than someone else.
I’d happily accept that outcome if I weren’t afraid that he’d run it into the ground.
If I were to take over, the dayto-day operations would run almost identically as before.
My brother’s proposing that we split everything 50/50, with my position in the shop, while he’ll be in the air-conditioned office, answering the phone.
I feel that if my brother isn’t able to accept that, it’d be a better opportunity for me than him, and allow my father to accept it, and then I’ll always have a tremendous amount of resentment toward both of them.
I’ve expressed my concern to my father and he just really doesn’t want to be in the middle, let alone decide one of us over the other. The Better Choice A My sympathies go to your father. He’s worked for 30 years to provide for two sons, and now is given an almost Solomonlike decision to give new life to one, deny the other, against the threat of losing one or both. Your father’s not “in the middle.”
He’s the wise one being pushed to a logical conclusion — sell, live on what he needs from proceeds, and leave each of you an equal share of what’s left when he dies.
There is, however, a different approach: You could get to know your brother anew and see if, in the years until your father retires, there’s a way to work together.