Why most family businesses are not ready to pass on

The figures

• 2.3%of advisers say most of the families they advise are fully ready for a sale or a handover
• 29.5%say most of those families are not ready at all
• 80.0%name lack of family agreement on a sale as a common obstacle
• 49.1%name weak governance and decision-making
• 46.7%name a tax and legal structure that is not fit for the purpose
• 43.0%say wealth planning, including succession, is what families need most after a sale

What holds families back

The obstacles advisers name most often are not interest rates or buyers. They are whether the family agrees on a sale, who has the authority to decide, and whether the structure that holds the business was built for a transfer. Tax considerations come second, at 55.4%, and disagreement on the price follows at 47.4%.

The next generation is part of the same picture. Where a family is not yet ready to sell, 65.9% of advisers say the next generation is not ready to take over either, though it will be later, and 22.6% say it is ready now. After a sale, 44.6% report only limited discussion with the next generation about what happens to the money, and 12.3% say the next generation has an equal say.

In the Middle East

Succession is the first family topic in every region surveyed, the Middle East included. In the Middle East, real estate ranks as the second investment topic, ahead of its third place globally, and after a sale families here prefer an investment committee that keeps decisions inside the family. Personal safety appears among the region's top concerns for the first time.

The Middle East figures rest on a smaller base: about 8.5% of the respondents' clients are mainly based in the region.

Where we would start

Agree in writing who decides what, before anyone discusses a price. Check whether the companies that hold the business, and the place each one sits, still fit what the family wants to do with it. Give the next generation a defined role in the discussion, not only a seat at the table. Keep the records current, so that a buyer, a bank or a successor finds them ready.

None of this needs a sale to be close. The families that are ready when the moment comes are the ones that did this work years before.

About the survey: the Family Barometer 2026 was sent to 1,789 advisers to families with CHF 50 million or more, including Julius Baer and EY specialists and outside experts, with an answer rate of 39.6%. The figures describe what advisers report about the families they work with.

Source: Julius Baer, Family Barometer 2026, in collaboration with EY, published October 2026.