Fictional example
A payment during the founder’s absence
- Supplier payment
- ₹12 lakh
- Due date
- 30 November
- Funds
- The company’s cash forecast covers the payment.
- Authority
- The alternate signatory’s bank mandate still needs confirmation.
Open · authority awaiting confirmation
Who acts next?
- Next step
- The finance lead checks the mandate and payment limit with the bank before the due date.
- Decision
- If a change is needed, the company’s authorised decision-makers approve it. The bank confirms the updated mandate.
Choose the right first engagement
Is the capital question already clear?
Focused mandate
Continuity Capital Review
Begin here when the capital, income or estate-funding obligation is defined and can be examined separately: for example, continuing family income, a shareholder settlement or a guarantee.
Broader mandate
Family Continuity Diagnostic
Begin here when ownership, control, succession, family roles, liquidity or documentation remain connected or unresolved.
The written scope identifies participants, recipients and responsibilities. Relevant family members, owners and appointed advisers contribute agreed discussions and records. Unresolved differences and decisions requiring authorised approval remain explicit.
Written findings
A written basis for the next decision
The output is a decision record: what is available, what remains uncertain and what needs to happen first.
Continuity Capital Gap Summary
Required capital and income, existing resources and any identified gap, with the assumptions stated.
Asset and Access Map
Relevant resources, ownership, intended recipients, access, control and material limitations.
Priority Decision and Action Sequence
Family decisions, professional confirmations and implementation actions, with responsibilities identified.
The decision view
Illustrative structure of the findings, not a client result.
- Obligation
- Purpose, amount and timing.
- Existing resources
- What is available and for which purpose.
- Access and control
- What is confirmed and what remains unresolved.
- Reliability
- Assumptions requiring testing or professional confirmation.
- Next steps
- Decisions, responsibilities and priorities.
Scope, professional fee, timeline and precise output format are confirmed before commencement.
Before you begin
Bring the obligation into focus
First conversation
Outline the obligation, intended recipient and timing. Detailed records come later, if required.
Agreed review
Agree the resources and access questions to review, participants, recipients, specialist confirmations, fee and timetable.
Findings discussion
Review confirmed resources, open questions and the next decision. Existing resources may be sufficient.
Before accepting the scope
Clarify which obligations and entities are included, what assumptions must be tested, the records and participation required, who confirms specialist points, and how changes to the question affect fees or timing.
Where ownership, succession or family-role questions cannot be separated from the obligation, discuss a broader Diagnostic before proceeding.
The Continuity Capital Test
Five questions the review must answer
01 · Purpose
What must the capital support?
A defined obligation: family income, debt, business stability, shareholder settlement, equalisation or controlled legacy.
02 · Amount
How much may be required?
Test the requirement and duration against existing resources, liabilities, inflation and relevant professional assumptions.
03 · Timing
When must it become usable?
Distinguish immediate liquidity, transition capital, dependable longer-term income and legacy capital.
04 · Access and control
Who can act?
Establish who can authorise, receive and deploy each resource. Ownership alone is insufficient.
05 · Reliability
Will the source hold under pressure?
Examine dependence on forced sales, borrowing, market conditions, founder involvement, family agreement or unverified documentation.
A 30-, 90- and 180-day stress test may help match obligations to usable resources. Equalisation is considered alongside responsibility, ownership and family intent, rather than assumed to require identical inheritance.
Explore a fictional income-and-guarantee example
Fictional illustration · not advice or a client result
How one defined obligation is tested
A fictional family needs 24 months of dependable spouse income and may need to discharge a business guarantee if the founder cannot act.
- Purpose: Support the spouse and protect business continuity during transition.
- Amount: Confirm the monthly need, guarantee balance and existing reserves; do not accept an unsupported estimate.
- Timing: Identify what must be usable within 30 days and what may become available by 180 days.
- Access and control: Document who can authorise, receive and deploy each resource; founder-only access is treated as exposed.
- Reliability: Do not count a property sale or unconfirmed facility as dependable capital under transition pressure.
Decision view: Map confirmed resources, access gaps and the remaining shortfall before considering any funding route. If ownership, succession or family-role questions are also unresolved, begin with the broader Diagnostic.
From findings to agreed action
Existing resources may be sufficient. Other findings may require changed access, professional clarification or a separately agreed funding arrangement. Implementation follows review and approval of the direction.
- Confirm the purpose. Record the obligation, intended recipient and timing.
- Agree responsibilities. Establish what participants, the practice and appointed professionals or providers will do, including confirmations still required.
- Agree terms. Identify relevant authorisations, charges, possible provider commissions and applicable disclosures and suitability processes.
- Record completion. Within the agreed coordination scope, connect completion evidence, remaining conditions and review triggers to the continuity brief.
Sandeep keeps the requirement, decisions and professional work connected. Appointed professionals advise and execute within their disciplines.
Implementation and remuneration
Diagnosis and architecture fees are paid to Continuity Charter Partners LLP. Any later financial-product implementation is separately agreed and handled through the appropriately authorised person or entity. Separate disclosures, suitability processes and commercial terms apply.
Product-related remuneration may include provider-paid commissions; additional specialist fees may apply. Read how the practice is paid and review its registered activities.
A private starting point
Establish the right first step
A private conversation can clarify whether your circumstances call for a focused Continuity Capital Review or the broader Family Continuity Diagnostic.