How we resolved the sudden death of a key person in companies across three jurisdictions
Karina Caldwell,
heir
Following the sudden death of our father, my brother Daniel Rammelmeier and I suddenly found ourselves in the position of shareholders of several companies in Czechia, Slovakia, and Germany of which we knew preciously little. To compound matters, it transpired that our father had no proper written agreements with his partners; instead, everything was “on a handshake basis”. Back at the time, our German counsel suggested we team up with Václav. Thanks to Václav, eventually joined by Honza, we were after several years finally able to resolve everything and achieve an orderly exit from the firms based on proper contracts. One thing both I and my brother particularly appreciated about Václav was his warm and empathic approach, and his refusal to ever give up. He was fully committed to bringing our case to successful completion.
Honza a Václav
This engagement was highly specific, primarily because it involved unlimited representation of the client – at her express request – in all matters, not least because Karina lives in Australia. Within very broadly drawn general guardrails (for instance, Karina and her brother Daniel insisted that the affected firms should not suffer unduly from the legal steps to be taken), we were thus in charge, across three jurisdictions, of all steps, including the selection of legal, accounting, and tax advisors and the coordination of their work. Unfortunately, Karina and her brother Daniel had almost no idea what the companies whose shares they inherited were doing, or whether they were financially healthy – i.e., they’d essentially received a pig in the poke, and were unsure what rights and possibilities came with it.