Business

Family business succession: separating archive from private

11 June 2026 · 7 min read · DeSnipperaar

In a family business of two or three generations, the archive is an interesting mix. Alongside the business administration sit private correspondence, old family photographs, personal contracts of the founder, and sometimes decades-old documents that are hard to categorise. At succession, or sale to an external party, that mix has to be unravelled. This article describes a workable approach.

Why separate?

1. GDPR basis. Business processing has a different basis from private keeping. Mixing is GDPR-indefensible.
2. Tax. The retention obligation applies to business administration. Private archive follows private tax rules.
3. Sellability. A buyer wants the business administration, not the old family trunk.
4. Privacy of family members. Personal documents of family members should not simply remain in a company archive.
5. Heritage. Family items often have sentimental value. Business items have administrative value. Different retention routes suit.

Three categories in practice

Purely business

Bookkeeping, customer administration, contracts with third parties, annual reports, Chamber of Commerce filings, tax returns. Follows the seven-year retention obligation.

Purely private

Family photographs, personal correspondence, diaries, private tax records of the founder, personal items. Follows private retention. Does not belong in business transfer.

Hybrid / grey

The interesting category: documents in which private and business are mixed.

• Letters to business partners that are also personal.
• Photos of company outings with family members.
• Memoirs or historical documents covering both family and business.
• Minutes of meetings where family and business interests run together.

The approach in four steps

Step 1: inventory locations

• Which cabinets in the building contain archive?
• Are there still cabinets with business material at the founder's home?
• External storage, vault, archive depot?
• Digital storage on private laptops or mailboxes?

Step 2: determine the categorisation criterion

For example:

• Letterhead on company stationery? Business.
• Document addressed to a natural person without a business role? Private.
• Signed by the director as director? Business.
• Photo with more than 50% non-employees (family)? Private.
• Doubt? Separate in the ‘hybrid’ bin.

Step 3: sort physically

• Three boxes or piles per cabinet: business, private, hybrid.
• Work per cabinet, not per topic.
• Two people at once works faster than one alone.
• For hybrid: short decision (1-2 minutes max), otherwise set aside for family consultation.

Step 4: decide on each category

• Business: follows the retention obligation. Destroy old documents (over 7 years), read the cheatsheet.
• Private: transfer to family. Personal decision on what to keep.
• Hybrid: family consultation. Usually choose one side.

The biggest pitfall: keeping everything ‘just in case’. A succession is precisely the moment to clear out systematically, not to move the pile to a new cabinet.

Special attention: founder archive

A founder's archive is often a mix of family history and business heritage. Practically:

• Create a separate collection for family history.
• Consider transfer to a regional historical archive for businesses with regional significance.
• For purely administrative heritage (annual reports 1985, etc.): scan and keep a summary.
• Destroy the operational copies whose information is kept elsewhere.

The role of the notary

In a succession via notarial deed, good practice is to include in the deed what happens with the archive:

• Who receives which category.
• Which destruction has been carried out before closing.
• Which documents have been scanned and where the scans are kept.
• Statement that GDPR retention periods have been observed.

For the successor: what to take over?

1. Complete business administration of the last 7 years.
2. Ongoing contracts and disputes.
3. HR files of active employees.
4. Customer correspondence within active relationships.
5. NOT: private heritage of the founder, personal correspondence, family history.

For the retiring founder: what to take?

1. Personal correspondence and diaries.
2. Family photos and historical items.
3. Private tax files and contracts.
4. Personal memorabilia of company milestones.
5. Ongoing private relationships with customers and suppliers (request consent for transfer).

Mobile destruction on site

For family businesses, mobile destruction on site is often valuable for reasons of discretion. No external transport step in which documents are still readable. No chance that old family items end up in the wrong container. For the wider trade-off, read mobile versus off-site shredding.

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Planning a succession? Email us via desnipperaar.nl. We are happy to schedule a visit at a moment that suits the family.