Sources behind the 2/3 failure rate for Post-Transition Families and their assets:

Below is a sampling of quotations regarding the widely discussed 2/3 failure rate in transitioning wealth. Successful families are understandably reluctant to submit to interviews, and researchers are somewhat disinterested in investigating wealth transfer in this small population. Thus, cross-linked data is hard to obtain. The Williams Group interviews of 3,250 successful families confirmed a post-transition failure rate between 65-75%.

Although well over 90 percent of all corporations (and many of the largest public corporations) in the U.S. are family owned or controlled, the average life expectancy of such organizations is only twenty-four years, and only three out of ten family firms survive into the second generation. Of the 70 percent that do not survive into the second generation, many could survive if only the owner/managers better understood the key issues involved in managing change and if they were better equipped with some change strategies to handle the process of adaptation and continuity more effectively.

SMR Forum: "Managing Change in the Family Firm -- Issues and Strategies," Beckhard, R. and Dyer, W.G., Jr., Sloan Management Review, 24:3 (1983 Spring)

A family business owner who intends to pass his or her business on to future generations faces a unique set of challenges. According to the 2002 American Family Business Survey conducted by the Mass Mutual Financial Group and the Raymond Family Business Institute, only 30% of family businesses will survive the initial transition from the founders to the second generation. Moreover, only 30% of those businesses that survive the initial transition will survive the subsequent transition to the third generation.

"The Family Constitution: An Important Wealth Preservation Tool", London, Johanna J., Michael Best, & Friedrick LLP, Attorneys at Law, publication Feb 2004

...only one third of businesses successfully make the transition from each generation to the next...and that figure has been very stable, and is true around the globe..."

Prof. Joe Astrachan, Cox Family Enterprise Center
Kennesaw State University, Georgia
The Economist, page 69, 5 Nov 2004

For further sources, please refer to Appendix B of Philanthropy Heirs & Values by Roy Williams / Victor Preisser, page 149-152