Avoid Estate Planning Blunders: Lessons From HBO’s “Succession”

Key Takeaways:

• The HBO series Succession illustrates the importance of proper estate and business succession planning, showing the struggles and missteps of the billionaire Roy family.
  
• Significant life events often come without warning. A lack of a defined plan can lead to chaos and conflict, particularly during the succession of a business.
  
• Proper estate planning involves clear communication with all involved parties. Take these steps to avoid harm and fractures within your family and business relationships.
  

This is part 1 of a 3-part series of articles on HBO’s Succession.

No one is immune to estate planning mistakes, not even billionaires. Succession, the Emmy award-winning television series from HBO, tackles this issue with flare. The hit show introduces audiences to the intergenerational dynamics of the Roy family and the running of their media conglomerate, Waystar RoyCo. Through four seasons, the writers spotlight this dysfunctional family and the way company succession clouds their everyday relationships. Family strife, backstabbing, failed business deals, and dramatic revelations populate the daily interactions of the Roy clan. While highly dramatized and entertaining, the show also serves as a powerful warning sign. It demonstrates many of the tension points inherent in estate planning, and how the failure to navigate personal wealth and business transitions can lead to disastrous consequences. With billion-dollar fortunes hanging in the balance, the estate planning blunders from Succession are as dramatic as they are instructive.

Let’s look at four estate planning lessons we can absorb from the early missteps of the Roy family:

Lesson 1: Life Can Change at Any Moment

Succession’s pilot episode sets up the family dynamics. Logan Roy is the 80 year-old CEO of Waystar, RoyCo., and his children are vying to be next in line to lead the company. There’s only one problem: Logan hasn’t named a clear successor. Despite his years, Logan is convinced he can continue to work at a high level. He goes so far as to announce at a family baseball game—much to his children’s angst—that he plans to remain the CEO for the foreseeable future. Then, the unexpected happens. Logan suffers a hemorrhagic stroke and collapses. His family rushes him to the hospital where his life hangs in the balance. This unexpected event forces the family to consider the difficult question: what now?

Significant life events often come without warning. The only way to be prepared for them is to anticipate and plan.

Lesson 2: The Lack of a Defined Plan Leads to Chaos (and Conflict)

With Logan unconscious in the hospital, and his future health unclear, the family must determine how to keep their billion-dollar company moving forward. However, as we’ve already seen, there is no succession plan in place. As a result, the second episode of the show is filled with chaos and conflict. Members of the family, along with senior leaders of the company, argue over who should be in charge and what steps should be taken. There is little agreement and even less progress. This tension creates rifts between family and friends—dynamics that will continue to play out for years to come. Further, the internal family tension spills over into the company’s financials. With no clear leader in place, the company stock price takes a nosedive.

A clear succession and estate plan not only ensures the transition of business and personal assets, it also helps protect family and loved-ones from unnecessary conflict.

Lesson 3: Navigate Estate Planning Updates with Care

To further complicate matters, the Roy family estate is up in the air. Mere hours before his stroke, Logan approaches his children with an unexpected request to update the estate plan. This update would give his third wife, Marcia, two seats on the company board. The children are understandably shocked. And, after Logan suffers his stroke, they actively work to push Marcia out of the company. One of Logan’s children, Shiv, goes so far as to hire an investigator to look into Marcia, suspecting foul play. After Logan’s death, we learned that he had made notations on his estate planning documents – possibly to underscore Kendal as the intended successor or possibly to remove Kendal. The edit was unclear. He also made notes on the documents, which questions his intentions. The tactless way Logan approached his children, with little information or care for the complex emotions of the situation, led to harm and a fractured dynamic within the family.

Don’t spring estate planning updates on your loved ones. Take the time to sit down and discuss significant changes.

Lesson 4: Communication is Key

Ultimately, it’s clear Logan’s lack of communication has left his family and his business unprepared for these events. Instead of providing clear, documented communication to his children, outlining his wishes and a succession plan in case of emergency, Logan has played the children against each other. His communication has been purposefully unclear on who will take charge, creating confusion, competition and anger. As a result, each of his children believe they should be in charge. This lack of clear communication adds stress to an already stressful situation.

Communication is critical to the estate planning process. Lay out clear expectations and make sure every family member and/or beneficiary knows where they stand.

Proper Estate Planning is Critical

As the show Succession demonstrates, a failure to plan for unexpected situations and communicate clearly with family members can lead to disastrous results: conflict, drama, and damage to the company. While the Roy family is a fictional case, these same issues play out every day in real life. That’s why it’s so important to make sure you have the right plan in place and have communicated your wishes to loved ones.

Looking to Avoid Estate Planning Blunders?

Work with the experts at Comerica. Our industry-leading advisors have decades of experience helping families and businesses of all sizes coordinate succession planning. We can help you navigate complicated family dynamics, difficult conversations, and the intricacies of the estate planning process. Reach out to your Comerica Relationship Manager or contact the Comerica Wealth Planning team today.