Christine Fleer is a partner at Arnold Bloch Leibler in Melbourne, specialising in commercial law, family and business succession, and private wealth. She works extensively with high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs and family groups to navigate the complex intersection of family dynamics and business structures. Christine grew up on a multi-generational wheat and sheep farm, giving her first-hand insight into the unique challenges family businesses face, and a practical appreciation of how closely the personal and the commercial are bound together in a family enterprise. 

In this episode, Christine walks through the legal architecture that sits beneath most Australian family businesses, from simple individual ownership to discretionary and unit trusts, testamentary trusts, superannuation and companies. She explains why the right structure always depends on the asset, its location, how long you intend to hold it, and your best guess at the returns. She makes the case for starting succession conversations early, because the triggers that force the issue (birth, death, marriage, regulatory change) are rarely predictable, and decisions made under time pressure are rarely the best ones.

Christine unpacks the essentials every founder needs regardless of structure: a will, an enduring power of attorney and a medical power of attorney. She points to the risk hiding in the sole-director business where one person is the only bank signatory, and the business can come to a halt if something happens to them. At the heart of every plan, she says, is a single question: who steps into your shoes if you're not here? She also explores why second and third generations often find decisions harder than the founder did, with the legacy itself becoming a kind of third child in the room, and why the families who navigate this best surround themselves with more than just technical advisers, drawing on advisory councils, sounding boards, agreed mediation processes and honest exit provisions set while there's no dispute on foot. 

Please note this episode was recorded prior to the Federal Budget, and some commentary may not reflect subsequent announcements.