Fitting Future Farm Owners Into Your Plans

Succession Planning

This question almost always comes up at some point when people talk about buying farmland.  How do I make sure this is passed on to my children or grandchildren properly.  There are many different ways but they all fall under the umbrella of succession planning.  

Succession planning is a continuous process to transfer knowledge, skills, management, control and ownership between generations.

Decisions Affecting Succession Planning

There are three main things that affect succession planning.  First is ownership.  How is that defined or going to be defined.  The second is what type of business entity is it going to be.  Is it a corporation, a LLC etc.  Finally you have to think about estate planning.  Is it part of your retirement?  How will it affect you tax planning?

How To Get Started On Succession Planning

You want to know your basis and how your property is owned.  Depending on that is how you would get started.  I will go over the different forms of ownership in the next handful of posts.