Latest News From Legacy Planning

Edgewood Locker got its start in rural northeast Iowa in 1966. The business now spans over three generations, and it's largely thanks to Joan Kerns who helped start the family business that's now seen phenomenal growth.

Edgewood Locker got its start in rural northeast Iowa in 1966. The business now spans over three generations, and it's largely thanks to Joan Kerns who helped start the family business that's now seen phenomenal growth.

According to Shuring, what may be considered equal doesn’t always make sense when the succession plan involves family members who actively work on the farm, and others who do not.

Farmers have struggled with the same business and family problem essentially forever: what happens to the farm when parents die. The conflict between fairness and equality has never been truly resolved.

As the seventh generation of the Cullipher family carves out a new opportunity, a Farmall serves as a time capsule of the past and motivation of what it takes to keep their farming legacy intact.

Rena Striegel's workshop at the upcoming Top Producer Summit will leave attendees with four main takeaways.

Succession planning can be a complex and emotionally charged process. Achieving consensus among family members, committing to the plan and understanding potential consequences are vital to secure the future of the farm.

Fractal pairs farmers wanting to expand their operations with hands-off investors who recognize the value of farmland.

Legacy Farmland Trust offers landowners a way to preserve and protect their assets for generations to come.

Social Security can be a good investment if the amount of taxes paid in is optimized. Paul Neiffer breaks it out down.

A recent court case shows how uncashed checks at death are not a gift and have to be included in your estate.

At 28, Zoe Kent is the owner and operator of Kent Farms in Ohio. As the eighth generation, she feels a responsibility to continue the family's legacy. The transition happened sooner than she or her father planned.

It's not impossible for young farmers to get started in agriculture if they really want it but expect it to take hard work, investing time and care in neighbors and having a few uncomfortable conversations.

More than 50% of farmers intend to grow their operation, based on responses in Purdue’s February 2023 Ag Economy Barometer. If you’re thinking about scaling your farm, it’s important to first ask these questions.

As you look at transitioning leadership and ownership of your farm to the next generation, be ready to tackle entitlement issues. 

Several Senators sent a letter to the IRS urging changes to various grantor trust rules. They believe the IRS has the authority to make these changes. We shall see.

Farmers are offered a $13 million Section 2032A estate tax exemption in President Biden's Green Book Proposal. Is this a good deal?

Here’s what farmers should consider with this sometimes complex question.

As a young Nebraska farmer, Maggie Holub is in a league of her own. She has a complete, but flexible, succession plan — in writing.

As farm shows and meetings portray a crowd that seems to be aging, is there a shortage of young farmers threatening the future of ag? John Phipps explains why an abundance of young farmers may not be on the farm today.

Farmers who are at least age 70-years-old and don't itemize should use their IRA to make charitable contributions. Paul Neiffer explains why.

Section 327 of the "Secure 2.0" Act passed in Dec. adds one more option for surviving spouses for inheriting retirement plans. It can help or not.

With Republicans now in control of the House, Rep. RandyFeenstra (R-Iowa) said he wants to introduce legislation shielding the stepped-up basis and like-kind exchanges.

How do you approach transition planning when two of your children are on the farm and one is not? You must be intentional and communicate.

Matt and Lisa Moreland hoped at least one of their sons would return home to farm after college. What they didn’t anticipate? All three sons wanted to come back. Here are four things the family learned in the process.

In your will or trust documents, you name a power of appointment. This means you grant power to an individual to name recipients of all or a portion of your money and property in the future.

You’ve done the hard part. You’ve set up a trust and allocated assets. Now, who will oversee it after you’re gone? Choosing a trustee is a major financial and personal decision.

The IRS just issued guidance allowing five years to make a portability election. This is good news.

I will be doing a four hour seminar on estate planning using trusts, etc. over the next few months. We provide a link to each seminar.

he IRS has issued proposed regulations dealing with required minimum distributions on inherited IRAs and retirement accounts.

We respond to a reader's question on portability for after 2025.

The original text of the Build Back Better Act proposed increasing the Section 2032A reduction to $11.7 million. We review how this might work.

What makes a good family farm transition? It is difficult to achieve a good farm transition without at least doing well in each of these C's.

Many farmers created irrevocable grantor trusts this year to get out of possible new restriction on using these trusts. However, though they may be grandfathered, they still may have issues that you need to deal with.

Section 2032A allows the estate to pay less estate tax but will force heirs to pay more capital gains tax in the future. It effectively eliminates step-up in basis on inherited farmland if used.

With possible increases in estate and gift taxes looming, the use of an Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust (IDGT) may be appropriate to use in 2021.

The Proposed Transfer Tax can actually eliminate net equity for many farm families and cause their heirs to be underwater. It can be much worse than the current or proposed estate tax for most farmers.

Many farmers will inherit IRAs during their lifetime. The rules on distributions are different. We review those rules and the penalties that might be associated with messing it up.

The USDA indicates the American Families Plan for transfer tax at death would only apply to 2% of American Farmers as long as the family continues to farm They don't tell you about lost income tax deductions. We do.

This session covers the steps necessary to give the next generation the best chance at being successful as they traverse from grunt to CEO and many steps in between.

Not all of the details of the 99.5% Act are as bad as may be mentioned in the media. We review one of those sections.

Chris Hesse and I do a deep dive on the STEP Act in an Ag Insights video and we review the For the 99.5% Act which will cost you even more.

A successful transition of a farm requires business continuity planning, business succession planning, personal financial planning and estate planning. Learn how to make these pieces fit together for your operation. 

There is more and more chatter about a capital gains tax at death (or during lifetime). We go over some of the provisions.

“My father always told me that the most difficult thing for him to do was to allow me to make mistakes,” says Glenn Newcomer, Ohio farmer.

Newcomer diversified personally as he took over the farm by working as a seed rep, eventually growing seed for companies, selling crop insurance and slowly adding acres along each step.

Leaving a legacy is sometimes complicated by the unknown of who’s next in line.

“Any money saved by not paying a lawyer to draft a will and succession plan, will be outweighed by the expenses associated with a family feud.”

Seek help in having dicey conversations about complicated issues

“We often take for granted people will understand what to do with information. This is typically not the case.”