Lisa Cukier will be leading a free webinar for family office professionals on “Protecting Family Governance in an Evolving Economy” on March 24, 2021 from 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. ET. Cukier will be joined by guest speakers Breana Cole and Jillian McGrath, financial advisors at AllianceBernstein. The webinar is part of an ongoing series sponsored by Burns & Levinson called “The Business of Family” which was created to help family offices better safeguard and serve their clients. Cukier shares a preview in this Q&A.
Q: We just marked the one-year anniversary of the pandemic. What are some of the most critical issues related to protecting family assets that have come up over the past year?
Cukier: The pandemic brought a crushing blow to some already fragile relationships and has adversely impacted family wealth in a number of ways. First, the pandemic caused many people to ditch their ideas about a grand wedding, instead they simply tied the knot before close family in the backyard or in vacant venues, in record speed. Prenuptial planning was lost and forgotten in the rush for the enticing simplicity of a near elopement. Second, we saw a sharp uptick in the number of marriages that are concluding since couples found themselves stuck together and unable to engage in the ordinary and usual activities that gave each spouse a life outside of the singular focus of marriage and home life. Third, the pressures of retooling family business around the adaptations needed to accommodate social distancing and lockdowns, along with the real loss of income for so many companies, created a heavy burden on families and spouses, which further strained certain marriages.
Q: What are the biggest financial and/or personal challenges you have had to help clients deal with?
Cukier: The pandemic saw an unprecedented number of deaths, which caused an unanticipated change in the flow of multigenerational wealth. Long-held, steadfast presumptions about life expectancy and inheritance were upended around the reality of multiple successive deaths, altering next generation succession of fiduciary roles and beneficiary expectations. In short, intentions as to who receives estate and trust benefits and when, were obviated and the next generation is coming into wealth now, without having had the conversations between generations to support an orderly and predictable flow.
Q. Have family businesses been particularly hard hit during this time and what does the horizon look like for them?
Cukier: Covid-19 decimated much of the family-owned hospitality sector of the economy and forced many businesses to create pandemic-adapted ventures and other new initiatives. While the horizon looks positive and we all look forward to life returning to something more resembling “normal” before summer ends, the pandemic has taught every family business owner that pandemic-adapted solutions and business succession conversations and planning is urgently needed.
Q. Have strategies emerged during the past year that you expect will remain post-pandemic?
Cukier: Family businesses need to adapt permanently by rightsizing and rescaling staffing of various operations.
Q: What future trends are on your radar?
Cukier: As the world opens back up, we will be able to restabilize the infrastructure of family around past indicia of regularity in public engagement and enrichment. This should allow us to resume our interests outside of the home, all of which makes for happier family relationships and better services for family members who have special needs or behavioral health needs. This will have a restabilizing impact on family and I expect divorces to plateau, parenting plan upsets to even out, and the level of psychiatric crisis to abate.
Q: What are you most hopeful about right now in terms of the important work you do and personally in your own life?
Cukier: I have been able to handle family law matters and family fiduciary disputes in a much quieter and less acrimonious way now that matters can be resolved in private Zoom meetings with alternative dispute resolution, in lawyer-to-lawyer negotiations, or by using retired judges as mediators. I represent many families with multigenerational wealth and I work hard to get everyone to agree on the ground rules and guiding principles upfront so that we can avoid a loud “War of the Roses” type acrimonious battle. Even matters that I argue in court are now argued in private Zoom court appearances that do not include the disclosure of personal family details to the public in a courtroom. All of my clients would rather avoid a public courthouse – and the public airing of their problems and finances – so my hope is we will be able to keep more of these disputes out of the courtroom even when the pandemic abates.
Lisa Cukier is co-chair of the Private Client Group at the law firm of Burns & Levinson in Boston. She concentrates her practice on estate litigation, estate planning and family law and has many years of experience helping clients through challenging family law matters. She frequently serves as a private adjudicator, Special Master, Guardian ad Litem, and mediator. She can be reached at lcukier@burnslev.com.
