Succession
A succession is a sequence, not a single decision.
The strongest succession plans separate exploration from commitment and put the owner’s priorities in order before momentum takes over.
Questions before names
What must remain true after the transition?
Before comparing names, programs, or terms, define the conditions a worthwhile transition would need to meet.
- 01
What do clients need from the next steward?
- 02
Which parts of the client experience should remain unchanged?
- 03
What does the team need to continue doing its best work?
- 04
How quickly—or gradually—do you want to step back?
- 05
What role, if any, do you want after the handoff?
- 06
Which financial and non-financial priorities matter most?
The process
From uncertainty to a considered path.
Each phase should answer a different question. The order reduces the risk that a proposed structure begins driving the decision before the objectives are clear.
- 01
Clarify
Understand the practice you built, the future you want, and the decisions that do not need to be made yet.
- 02
Define
Put client continuity, team needs, economics, timing, and your future role into a clear order of priority.
- 03
Explore
Consider potential paths and counterparties against those priorities before an introduction is made.
- 04
Prepare
Shape a deliberate handoff with the appropriate legal, tax, compliance, valuation, and transition professionals.
A Cresswood principle
A good process should make the owner more certain about what matters—even when the answer is not yet.
Potential pathways
The structure should follow the priorities.
Depending on the practice and the available counterparties, a succession may involve an internal successor, an external advisor or team, or a platform-supported transition. Those are categories to evaluate—not interchangeable solutions.
Cresswood’s exact role and the pathways available in a specific engagement should be confirmed before any option is presented as viable.
A useful comparison asks
- Service philosophy
- Client experience
- Team structure
- Culture and operating model
- Geography and accessibility
- Economics and transition expectations
Successor fit
Terms matter. So does the practice that exists after them.
Clients
The service model, relationships, and promises your clients should be able to rely on after the transition.
Colleagues
The people who know the practice, the roles they hold, and the stability they need through a handoff.
Economics
The financial structure, timing, and tradeoffs that should be understood rather than assumed.
Your role
Whether you want a clean departure, a gradual step-back, or a defined period of continued involvement.
A valid outcome
Not every path should move forward.
A serious process leaves room to pause, refine the criteria, or decide that the timing is not right. Exploration should create clarity even when it does not create a transaction.