43 COMMERCIAL LAW Articles of Association in Family Businesses* Helin Akbulut Introduction Family companies, basically, are commercial companies in which the company shares or the authority to manage the company belong to various members of a family. The main criteria that may be used to identify family companies are one or more of the following elements: either the majority of the shareholders are family members, family members dominate the management or the family has a strategic effect on the company management, or the continuity of family relations in the company. For this reason, family relationships and commercial ties between individuals add an intricate dynamic to the shareholding relationship. Among the main goals seen in family companies lies the establishment of a corporate structure that will ensure the transition between generations. Often, various legal documents are created both in order to prevent conflicts between family members by providing legal certainty and, in cases where conflict arises, to resolve the conflict with the least damage to the company’s business. Especially in family companies that are established as joint stock companies, the shareholders’ agreement and the family constitution come first among these legal documents. To what extent these arrangements – especially the provisions of the shareholders’ agreement between the shareholders of the company – may be reflected in the articles of association is of great importance. The Family Constitution and The Shareholders’Agreement in Family Businesses As stated above, the family constitution is one of the most important steps a family company may take to establish a solid corporate * Article of July, 2021
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