VOELKER & Partner
Lawyers Auditors Tax Consultants mbB

Many parents wish to pass on their real estate to the next generation while they are still alive. At the same time, they want to secure their own financial future and ensure that future claims to a statutory share by unwelcome or estranged relatives are reduced.

In Baden-Württemberg alone, some 30,000 companies are facing a succession issue. The founding generation has reached retirement age, and the next generation is set to take over. What sounds simple often turns out to be highly complex in practice. Not because the legal arrangements are difficult or the ideas unfeasible, but simply because there is a lack of suitable successors. If no one within the family is willing (and able!) to continue the business, the search for external successors begins. In economically challenging times, however, entrepreneurial independence holds little appeal for many, so suitable candidates are usually just as hard to find outside the family as they are within it. If there are indeed family members interested in taking over, another problem often arises. True to the old adage “too many cooks spoil the broth,” handing over the business to multiple family members willing to take over risks paralyzing or splitting the company if disputes arise in future generations.

Medical devices and equipment—from sterilizers to thermal disinfectors (such as the MelaTherm)—are subject to mandatory periodic validation, revalidation, and performance qualification. Even though the benefits and frequency of these measures are certainly controversial among practitioners, there is a legal obligation to comply with them, which—for the reasons outlined below—should not (and cannot) be circumvented.Validation involves assessing a system, product, or reprocessing procedure to determine its suitability for reliably meeting the specified usage and hygiene objectives.