Separate control, family distribution, and tax liquidity

A fictional Japanese family company has one thousand voting rights of the same stated class. The proposed successor owns two hundred and plans to acquire another four hundred. A sibling would instead receive other property. The founder’s estate is asset-rich but has only one million eight hundred thousand yen of cash available against a provisional three million yen tax payment estimate. Both amounts are exercise assumptions, not a tax assessment. The founder also personally guarantees company debt. Someone says that appointing the successor as representative automatically transfers every share, releases the guarantee, and permanently cancels any succession tax. The planner should disentangle those propositions. The family needs a legally workable ownership and management transition, an agreed distribution, funding for payments, and appropriate professional advice about guarantees, valuation, wills, and any conditional tax-deferral regime.