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Leading expertise dedicated to sustainable family governance and the succession of family-owned groups.

Desfilis has developed widely recognized expertise in governance and the succession of large family-owned groups. We support business leaders and their families in structuring, preserving, and transferring their family enterprises. Our approach places listening, human understanding, and legal certainty at the heart of every decision, ensuring the long-term sustainability of family groups.

Working alongside major family-owned businesses, our team has cultivated dedicated expertise in building a strong “affectio familiae”. Our mission is to maintain family cohesion around a shared entrepreneurial vision while ensuring the operational efficiency of the business.

We believe that successful family business succession relies on anticipating challenges, fostering dialogue, and formalizing the “rules of the game” in advance— always in alignment with shared values, which are the cornerstone of lasting family ownership. We transform governance into a true instrument of dialogue and stability.

This dual expertise, legal and human, enables us to craft tailor-made solutions where the interests of the family and the business converge sustainably.

Practice areas

  • Legal Structuring of Governance: allocation of powers, organization of corporate bodies, and establishment of delegations and specialized committees.

  • Tailored Governance Frameworks: development of governance rules adapted to each situation, drafting of customized articles of association and shareholders’ agreements, and establishment of holding structures, including family holdings.

  • Family Charters: drafting of family charters to formalize shared values, define rules for heirs’ entry and exit, set a long-term vision, and establish family councils.

  • Committees Setup and Oversight: creation, adaptation, and monitoring of audit, remuneration, and investment committees, including defining their mandates and operational rules.

  • Succession Planning & Dutreil Pact Structuring: legal and tax diagnostics (sale, gift, usufruct, etc.) to transfer the business while minimizing capital erosion.

  • Prevention and Resolution of Family Disputes: implementation of governance rules and mechanisms to resolve conflicts, safeguard family unity, and ensure business continuity.

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