Octavian Graf Pilati's family has been in Lower Austria since 1730, when his ancestors, the Khevenhüllers, bought Burg Hardegg and the estate at Riegersburg. One of them ran Maria Theresa's court and was made a prince. Another went to Mexico with Emperor Maximilian. The estates fell into the Soviet zone in 1945 and the family spent ten years as refugees; when they came back in 1955, half the forest had been cut down.

In 2009 his father pledged those forests as security for the bank loans of a listed timber company planting teak in Costa Rica. His sons found out in 2010, when his older brother pulled the land registry documents. The timber volumes had been overstated and half the Costa Rican land was protected rainforest. The company went bankrupt, investigations ran in Austria and Costa Rica and nobody was prosecuted, and three Austrian banks called the pledges. Octavian was in his early twenties, sitting opposite them with a lawyer.

At the end of 2017 the family sold the entire forest and repaid every bank in full, with money left over. They kept the castle at Hardegg, sold the baroque palace at Ruegers in 2021, and ended up owning the teak plantations in Costa Rica. Harvard Business School teaches the story in a course called How Not to Bankrupt Your Family.

More than half of adults in the UK have no will. Tasnim Khalid, founder of Private Client Solicitors in Manchester, has spent 21 years sorting out what families leave behind, and she says they are arguing more than ever.

Sheelam Chadha and Tasnim talk about why inheritance fights are getting bigger, the client who sold his company with six months to live, a family that fought over a gargoyle, and why wealthy families are moving money to Portugal, Singapore and Dublin. Tasnim also explains why she left corporate law at nine months pregnant to start her own firm.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:20 Meet Tasnim Khalid

0:58 Leaving corporate law, nine months pregnant

3:46 From Punjab to London: her father's story

8:33 Starting a business in Britain's tax squeeze

11:04 AI and the law

12:35 56% of adults have no will

14:45 Six months to live

20:18 Why heirs fight more than ever

23:23 The property ladder and lifetime renters

25:20 Talk to your children while you can

27:06 The gargoyle

27:55 Britain's wealthy are moving abroad

31:05 Don't let the tax tail wag the dog

34:41 London 25%, Dublin 12.5%

35:57 Running a business as a working mum

38:21 Take the leap

Watch the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ELYPoe-qRxk

More: https://loadbearingpodcast.com