How a Family Foundation Saved a Company Near Poznań
In May 2023, regulations came into force that changed the rules of the game for owners of large businesses in Poland. Marek, our client from the Swarzędz area, has been running a metal processing plant since August 1994 and employs 84 people, but he faced the specter of a family dispute that could destroy 29 years of his hard work.
84 jobs and no family agreement
Marek's company generated exactly 12.4 million PLN in revenue in 2023. This is the fruit of three decades of work, sleeping in the office, and watching over every contract. The problem arose when Marek started planning his retirement. He has three sons, and each of them saw the future differently. The oldest wanted to sell the machinery and enter real estate development, the middle one wanted to manage with a firm hand, and the youngest was not interested in industry at all. According to Polish inheritance law, after the owner's death, the assets would be torn apart by the forced share (zachowek), which would mean paralyzing the plant in less than 14 months.
We protect what you built, so we sat down for an analysis in our office at pl. Trzech Krzyży 10. The document review lasted 11 business days. We calculated that potential forced share payouts would amount to 3.7 million PLN in cash. The company did not have such free funds in its accounts. Marek would have to take a working capital loan at 9.2% or sell half of the CNC machines. Both paths led to financial catastrophe and the dismissal of at least 32 skilled workers who had worked with him since the early nineties.
Succession is not a topic for 'someday'. It is a decision about whether your company will survive the next 12 months after you leave.
Family foundation as a financial shield
We proposed transferring 99.2% of the company shares to a family foundation. We started this process in September 2023. The most important point was the statute, which Joanna Wiśniewska prepared over 3 weeks. The document is 42 pages long and precisely specifies that the factory near Poznań is indivisible. The sons became beneficiaries, not direct owners of shares. Thanks to this, the assets remained in one piece, and the family reaps profits without fighting over who has the keys to the president's office and who decides on the purchase of a new laser cutter.
No fluff about the stock market – let's get to the tax specifics, because they are decisive here. A family foundation allows for capital turnover within the structure without paying 19% CIT on capital gains. In Marek's case, reinvesting 1.8 million PLN of profit annually means savings at the level of 342,000 PLN each year. This money stays in the company and works for development, instead of going to the tax office in the form of a levy that can be completely legally avoided with this legal construction.
127 days to full security
The entire procedure, from the first meeting to the entry in the register of family foundations in Piotrków Trybunalski, took us 127 days. It wasn't an easy time because we had to convince three adult men to share a common vision. Honestly, along the way, we had two crisis moments where Marek himself wanted to withdraw for fear of losing control. However, the numbers speak for themselves. We showed a simulation of the costs of maintaining the foundation, which amount to about 14,500 PLN per year, contrasted with millions in tax savings and asset security.
Today, the company near Poznań operates efficiently under a new legal umbrella. Marek still looks over production twice a week, but he does it with a clear head. He knows his life's work will not be traded for small change through inheritance disputes or sudden claims. The foundation protects capital from the beneficiaries' personal creditors and ensures stable payout of benefits for the entire family. This is not theory from guidebooks, but a concrete, working construction that saved 84 jobs and the fruits of 29 years of work.
The numbers speak for themselves: 342,000 PLN in annual savings is an argument that ends any discussion about the profitability of a foundation.
How to start organizing your wealth?
Many people ask us if a foundation is only for billionaires. The answer is: it's for anyone who has a business worth more than 4 million PLN and wants that business to outlive them. Vistula Wealth Advisors has been managing such processes since September 2016 and we have seen too many companies fail in the second generation due to a lack of a plan. Don't wait for the moment when health fails. The succession process is a marathon, not a sprint, and requires a cool head and precise mathematical calculations, not emotions at Sunday dinner.
Start with a simple audit of your assets. Check what will happen to your accounts and shares in companies within 48 hours of your departure. If the answer terrifies you, it's a sign that it's time to act. Our team in Warsaw analyzes every case individually, looking for gaps in security. Remember that we protect what you built, using only proven methods that will withstand tax control and the test of time. A family foundation is only one of the tools, but currently the most effective in the Polish legal system.
