Posted: Thursday, March 27, 2025
Author: Jerry Hicks, Principal Broker | Licensed in OR
If you are a farmer, rancher, or landowner, undoubtedly, you have wondered what this land, your land, will look like in 20, 30, 50, or 100 years from now. Who will own it? How will it be used? Truth is right now, here today, you can pre-determine much of the unknown and shape the future well beyond your lifetime regarding your ranch, farm, and land holdings. Good planning will also save your estate, your heirs, and your successors a lot of tax burden. Yes, succession planning for your ranch, farm, and land assets should be one of your highest priorities. It's likely you pondered this a few times, but there's often an uncomfortable feeling about starting, or it's something that feels easy to procrastinate, and you tell yourself you are going to do it a little later. Believe me, this happens often. I'm not going to spend time explaining the unintended consequences of not having a plan. You are likely already well aware and understand many, if not all, of the consequences of not having that plan in place. So, let's start getting that plan put into place. This can be somewhat daunting at first, but when you think about it, if most of your life is behind you rather than in front of you, it makes sense to draft an action plan now.
Step 1: Spend some time writing down all the things that are important to you and the visions you have had for this land. Dream big. Think back to the days when you had your first plans and desires for your land. Everything from liquidating to leaving it for your heirs to gifting it to a charity or non-profit and the numerous possibilities in between. You can call the shots now.
Step 2: With your long-term goals and estate plan somewhat defined, sit down with your spouse or loved ones and talk through your vision and plan. A conversation with your trusted partner will do much to refine and define your goals and the outcome of the succession plan. This too, should serve as a blueprint to those that will follow behind you.
Step 3: You may wish to spend time with the person, persons, non-profit, school, church, or other entity that will be the successor or beneficiary. In some cases, you may need their input on the vision plan. You also need to get your successor's confirmation for this task and share your goals for the property.
Step 4: Meet with your attorney, accountant, and qualified real estate agent. Each one will make major contributions to assembling the estate plan. The outcome could vary from a simple will to a trust or a series of activities such as gifting, forming one or more LLCs, or selling the assets, among others, to complete an estate and succession plan.
There is also even more of a reason for urgency if you are considering gifting your property. For the larger estates, the temporary increased estate and gift tax exemption is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025. So, a planning session with your accountant and or attorney now is strongly advised more than ever.
Every estate and person will have unique circumstances and a different plan. This is not like picking up a German chocolate cake mix and following the instructions step-by-step for the perfect cake. Make a commitment to yourself. Get that succession plan going today. You can keep that dream going. Let's make sure you keep as much of your one-of-a-kind cake for the ones you'll leave behind. If you are in a position where you need to create an estate and succession plan, please consider it a privilege, not a burden. What and how you arrange this right now will have much to do with how your life successes will be recalled.
