Peter Marlow built his first staircase in 1983, in a rented barn with a borrowed lathe. Forty years later, Marlow Joinery employs twenty-six people, and Peter wanted to spend more of his mornings at the bench than at the desk. His daughter Clare ran the design studio. His son Tom ran the workshop floor. Neither had ever discussed what "taking over" would actually mean.
They came to us expecting a conversation about shares. The first meeting was about something else entirely: what each of them wanted the next ten years to look like, and what they were quietly worried about.
Listening before drafting
Alexander met the family three times before a single document was drafted. Once together, and once with each sibling alone. It became clear that Clare and Tom agreed on almost everything except the pace, and that Peter's real concern was the twenty-six people on the payroll.
“We thought we needed a contract. What we needed first was a conversation we had been putting off for years.”
Clare Marlow, design director
From there, the options were laid out side by side: an immediate transfer, a staged handover and a sale to an employee ownership trust. Each came with its tax position, its risks and what it would mean for the family dinner table.
How the advice unfolded
- iSeparate conversations with each family member to understand priorities and concerns.
- iiThree routes compared in plain language, with costs and consequences for each.
- iiiA shareholders' agreement and a three-year handover plan, signed in the workshop.
Today Peter still arrives at seven most mornings. He just leaves the meetings to Clare and Tom.
