Success StoryFarm Transition and Intra Family Discussions



Farm Transition and Intra Family Discussions

Author: Jonathan Shepherd

Planning Unit: Agr Economics

Major Program: Farm Management, Economics and Policy

Outcome: Long-Term Outcome

Meet with a farm family that is currently looking to transition from parental ownership to children and spouses.  The goals of the meetings were to discuss transition opportunities and mechanisms.  Along with that, discussion centered around tax consequences and other areas of concern.  Follow-up meetings included discussions of communication and record keeping and how to balance fairness with equity.  My primary role was to identify areas of concern for both parties and then help them identify what other professionals they needed to reach out to and the information they needed to gather in order to get the conversation started.  In the end, the goals were reached.  Both parties (i.e. parents and children/children spouses) came to an agreement, had a plan moving forward and have executed the transition successfully.