UAE’s new Family Business Law will smooth succession planning – and speed up dispute resolution when needed

UAE’s new Family Business Law will smooth succession planning – and speed up dispute resolution when needed

Dubai: UAE family businesses – some of them operational since the 1940s and ‘50s - get all the protection they require in generational change from a new UAE law that will come into effect January. At the same time, the Federal Decree Law No. 37 of 2022 also provides a roadmap for these private enterprises – or parts of it - to consider going public should they choose to. Legal sources and senior representatives of family enterprises were unanimous in that the UAE law will ‘future-proof’ these businesses to a great extent. And smooth out the succession process as and when needed, and thus avoiding strife that have marred some of the processes in the past. At the same, there are aspects of the law that will help family businesses take to the future in a more structured way. For instance: • The law regulates the ownership of family businesses by defining their capital, how the partner disposes of his share, and the mechanism for waiving it, in addition to regulating the right of redemption and evaluation of shares and their categories, as well as the family company's purchase of its shares. • Cancels the restriction on the maximum number