{"id":2455,"date":"2024-10-02T15:17:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/?page_id=2455"},"modified":"2026-07-08T08:50:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T06:50:26","slug":"business-succession","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/succession\/business-succession\/","title":{"rendered":"Business succession"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business succession in Italy<\/h1>\n
The succession of a family business requires careful planning to ensure transfer without interruptions and future family conflicts. For foreign citizens, it is crucial to manage the transition according to Italian laws, harmonising it with any rules of the Country of origin.<\/div>\n
\n

The succession of the family business for a foreign citizen in Italy is a very delicate passage, especially in a complex regulatory context such as the Italian one. For foreign citizens who own activities in our Country, understanding the rules of succession is fundamental to avoid problems and ensure continuity to the business.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

If you are part of the population of foreigners residing in Italy, or also, if you are a person residing abroad of Italian nationality, you might find it particularly complex to understand the regulation that governs business succession mortis causa.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Boschetti Studio Legale, our international law firm, is ready to help you plan the transmission of your business in Italy in compliance with local laws and your needs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

You should know that ensuring the generational transition of companies is a complex operation that requires planning and careful management of family and legal dynamics. Italian regulation on successions, regulated by the Civil Code, provides for precise rules to transfer the business to the heirs, but, if you are a foreigner in Italy, it is also necessary to take into account the connecting criteria provided by private international law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Managing the generational transition of family businesses<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Let us premise that the family business is a company in which one or more members of the same family collaborate, participating in its management and operational activities. In Italy, the discipline of family businesses is regulated by the Civil Code, which provides that participating family members have the right to a share of profits and of strategic decisions of the business, proportionate to their contribution of work.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The generational transition of a business is a very important moment that requires careful planning activity. In fact, recalled that business succession can take place both through a will and in the absence of a will (legitimate succession), if the succession of a family business is not adequately planned, conflicts may arise between heirs, to the detriment of the integrity of the business.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Reference is made to the rules on inheritance law, which are closely linked to family law. In this scenario, the prime instrument to implement correct planning of the succession of a business is certainly the family pact. Such instrument, which derogates from the general rule of the prohibition of inheritance pacts, is used to avoid the long procedures of inheritance division provided by the Civil Code and the possibility of family disputes arising during the inheritance division phase.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The planning of business succession therefore allows the economic activity to survive the death of the entrepreneur, without being compromised by family disputes or splits during the inheritance division phase.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the case of foreign citizens, it is particularly important to be aware that, in the absence of specific agreements, Italian rules will apply, which might not correspond to those of one’s country of origin. For this reason, it is advisable to turn to a lawyer for successions, such as us at Boschetti Studio Legale, who will be able to assist you in preparing a personalised succession strategy thanks to our specialist lawyers in the matter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

The Family Pact: what it is and when it takes place<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
\n

The family pact, introduced in Italy with a 2006 law, allows the entrepreneur to transfer in advance the business or company shares to one or more heirs, thus avoiding the opening of traditional succession and the conflicts that may arise between heirs, and therefore allowing the de cuius to identify the heir or heirs most suitable to give a future to the business and prevent its disintegration.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The succession of businesses can also have as its object a share of co-ownership of the business, as well as a business branch, that is the functionally autonomous articulation of an organised economic activity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The family pact can be stipulated:<\/p>\n