Karen Walsh: Plan carefully for your legacy of a lifetime

Mixing business with pleasure is one thing. But mixing business with family is altogether different, and often volatile and dynamic.

While many family businesses collapse under the weight of high expectations, heavy politics and plenty of personal and professional baggage, many also prosper, due in part to extra steps they have taken such as talking through major issues before launching or implementing a succession plan to protect their business and personal relationships.

Disagreements among family members can spill from the professional to the personal, and vice versa. Problems can be particularly acute when parents and children are in business together.