Dividing up a vineyard can become a difficult and tangled legal task in Napa
Valley—a circumstance that dramatically impacts estate planning for land owners.
“We can’t divide up the land equally, because we have a 160-acre minimum for
division of that property,” explains estate attorney David Gaw of Gaw VanMale
Smith Myers & Miroglio, a law firm based in California’s wine region. “So we
have people who are active in the business owning part of the land and people
who are not part of the business owning the other part. That’s a typical
problem.”For this reason, Gaw suggests that his clients involve their children in the
estate planning process. Much of the difficulty that wineries experience after a
generational transfer results not from the economics of managing the business,
but from the conflicts that arise between heirs. Gaw encourages founders to
begin the succession discussion while they remain in control of the business,
educating their children about the operational and personal challenges of
transition. He also recommends choosing the next generation’s leader early on.
“Someone has to be the leader,” he says, and the parents must make that initial
appointment. “Otherwise, the kids will fight it out.” Gaw expresses skepticism about having heirs choose the successor from among
themselves. “Normally, it does not work. The average businessperson doesn’t
involve the children very early. In my experience, the parents have to make the
decision to start with, not the children.”  Back to Main Article: An
Eccentric Succession: Conversations with the
Cakebreads
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