For estate, trustand succession lawyers.

Succession lawyers see the handover at the point where it becomes binding. You draft the trust, the shareholder agreement, the buy-sell provisions and the board resolutions. And sometimes, while you do, you see that the hardest part of the transition is not in any document.

What do you see from the lawyer’s desk?

The pattern is often visible in the drafting itself.

• The founder keeps a veto, quietly. Reserved matters, a casting vote, a role as chair “for a transition period” with no end date. The structure says the successor leads; the drafting says the founder has not let go.
• The successor is in the meeting but not in the conversation. Questions about the plan are answered by the parent. The successor takes notes.
• Signing gets postponed. The documents are ready. The founder finds one more point to revisit, and the meeting moves again.
• Siblings and in-laws raise issues through you. Fairness concerns that belong at the family table arrive as comments on a draft.

None of this is a legal problem, and you are right not to treat it as one. It is a question of whether the successor can carry the board, the senior team and the family once the documents take effect. Succession planning vs successor preparation sets out why both are needed.

Where does Second Chair™ fit, and where does it not?

Second Chair™ prepares the person. Over six months, one to one, it works on how the successor leads the board, the senior team and the family, using the real events on their calendar: board meetings, the company announcement, the family meeting.

It stays well clear of your work.

• No legal advice of any kind. Ownership, trusts, estate planning, shareholder and buy-sell agreements remain with the family’s lawyers.
• No tax or investment advice.
• No governance or succession planning.
• No view on whether the successor should take the role.

The program ends with a facilitated handover session and a signed one-page Handover Charter: who decides what, from when, how the two generations disagree, the founder’s new role and the announcement. It is a working agreement between two people, written in plain language. It is not a legal instrument and does not replace one. If anything in it touches ownership, control or the family’s existing agreements, that belongs with you.

When is a referral a good fit?

It fits when:

• The successor, roughly 25 to 45, has decided to take the role.
• The handover is coming within one to three years, with real events ahead.
• The structure is in hand, or in progress with you, and the question is whether the person is ready to lead inside it.
• The founder is willing to sit at the table for a handover session.

It does not fit when:

• The successor has not decided, or the family is still choosing between children.
• The family is looking for legal, tax or investment advice under another name.
• The founder wants a readiness report to support a decision, not preparation.

How Second Chair™ decides whether a family is a fit explains each point.

How does a referral work?

Your professional obligations come first. Nothing about a referral should require you to share information your client has not agreed to share.

1. Mention it as an option, once the client has raised the concern themselves. “Some families use a coach who works one to one with the successor” is enough.
2. Prefer the family making contact. Give the client the site and let them decide.
3. If you introduce, agree it first. Before naming the client, agree with them what you may share, and follow your own professional rules and firm policies.
4. Use the request form. It has an option for “an advisor to the family”. Only name and email are required.

Nikola reads every request himself. Where there is a fit, he replies within three business days with a personal email and a one-time link to arrange a private conversation. How advisors refer a family to a coach covers the steps, including how to check any coach before you mention them.

How is discretion handled?

• Every engagement begins under a mutual NDA.
• Second Chair™ does not publish case studies or name the families it works with.
• The parent receives a monthly briefing. What the successor says in sessions stays between coach and successor.
• Requests sent through the site are held in confidence and never shared.

Engagements begin at $50,000, paid in full by the family or the company.

To discuss a client situation or the approach, request a private conversation. The family constitution vs the handover charter and the Handover Charter itself show where the working agreement ends and the legal documents begin.