Readers’ forum: Passing on company shares to employee friend

My client owns a trading company worth perhaps £2m. She is divorced and has no children. One of her employees has been with her from six months after the business started nearly 15 years ago and has been instrumental in the success of the business.

John the employee has been well remunerated for his work with salary and bonuses and a small shareholding through enterprise management incentive option planning some years ago. Over this 15-year period John and my client have become close friends holidaying together attending each other’s family celebrations and so on.

My client came to see me a few weeks ago to talk about her will as she is now 60 and said that she has decided to leave the shares in the business to John. My concern is the disguised remuneration rules and the...