There's good news for treasure hunters this week as it was announced that a long-running mystery has been solved. As this BBC news article reports, Max Valentin, a French author and puzzle-maker had set up a challenge during his lifetime where he published a series of clues leading treasure hunters to a statue of an owl he had buried in France.

I was more interested to read about what happened after Mr Valentin’s death – at this point, the owl had not yet been found and there was some legal disagreement over who would continue running the treasure hunt. It seems Mr Valentin’s family ultimately made a contract with his illustrator to take over the running of the treasure hunt.

Owls and treasure hunts aside, this story makes for interesting reading from an estate planning perspective.

Often people start initiatives or projects during their lifetime based on their skills or expertise without considering whether family members would like to continue with them after they pass away. This could be something as exotic as a treasure hunt or something more mundane like a family business. For example, there are reports that farmers in the UK are struggling as family members are not willing to take the reins of running the farm later in life.

In cases like this, it is helpful to appoint someone with an interest in your business or project to take it over rather than simply leaving it to your family to manage.

If your business is set up with its own ‘legal personality’ (e.g. it is an incorporated company) then you can to an extent decide within the company what will happen when you are no longer there – so-called ‘legacy planning’. However, if the business is owned in your name (e.g. you are a sole trader) unless you specify otherwise, your business assets will be treated as part of your personal estate when you die. Either way, it is best to seek legal advice on how to make sure that your business is appropriately run when you are no longer around.

In some situations, it can be helpful to make specific provisions in a will about your business assets or the running of whatever enterprise you have set up to ensure that they go to someone who is interested in it and has the skills to keep it going.

I do not know if Mr Valentin prepared a will, but if he had specifically appointed his illustrator in his will as the person to carry on the treasure hunt, maybe this could have helped to avoid the later legal questions.

The lesson here is that, when doing estate planning and preparing a will, it is important to think not only about your personal assets but also about any pet project or business you are running. And perhaps another lesson is – always make a note of where you bury your owl statues.

For further information about preparing a will, please contact me.