Adopt an adult for estate planning purposes? It's done in Japan

When I first read this article about Japanese families adopting adult sons so that they'd have someone suitable to carry on the family name and business (even where they already have a son) I marvelled at how different attitudes are here. But as I think about the number of people I've met who don't have kids who are interested in the business their parents built, or who are interested in the profits but not the work, the idea begins to make perfect sense. Click here to read this brief but entertaining article from www.disinherited.com.