What Can We Learn From the Guinness Family?

As the story is told in Netflix’s “House of Guinness,” it all started in 1868 with the death of Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, the owner of the Guinness brewery that was a household name, even then. Benjamin Lee was survived by his four children, Arthur, Anne, Benjamin and Edward and put the keys to his stout-empire in the hands of his oldest son (Arthur) and his 21-year-old, youngest son (Edward).

While Edward displayed a keen mind for business and real interest in the operations of the Guinness brewery, Arthur pulled away from running the business, took over his father’s parliamentary seat and made a brief run at a political career. Seeds of conflict brewed into stalks of resentment and in 1876, Edward bought his brother out. Edward became the sole owner of Guinness at 29 years old, by buying out Arthur’s share for £600,000, around $81M today. Edward was then free to take what was already one of the largest breweries in the world and sent it into the stratosphere by going public with 65% of his shares.

So, what can we learn from this lager legacy?

We can discuss heir agreements! While not all of us have a family brewery to contend with, it’s very common for Floridians to have a primary residence that will be distributed to several heirs. Now, what those heirs will do with the property is typically not provided for in the trust or the last will intentionally; real property in Florida is fickle to say the least. Sometimes it’s a great time to sell, and sometimes not. Additionally, we never know if/when a big developer will come along and offer a bunch of money (it happens).  We typically leave asset to our people and let them sort it out depending on market conditions and the heirs’ needs.

For this reason, it’s very common for heirs (or beneficiaries) to get into an agreement amongst themselves. The agreement would specify who buys the other(s) out, the purchase price and any additional terms that make sense for the parties. Since the heir agreement is an internal document, we have the choice as to whether the document gets notarized or witnessed or can be electronically signed. In my opinion, the more formality (without annoying the humans) the better.

So, there you have it, we learn that ale’s well that ends well in the case of the Guinness fermenters. We also learn that I can use a beer right about now LOL