Attorney Kate Z. Graham was recently featured in an issue of The Farmer Magazine. The article by Janet Kubat Willette is titled “Challenges about for farmland access, transitions” and features the voices of other important contributors to this field, including Fred Kirschenmann of the Leopold Center and Stone Barns Center, and Susan Stokes formerly of Farmers Legal Action and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and now at Lind Jensen Sullivan & Peterson. From the article:
“In the ideal situation, the farm owner identifies one or two farming heirs. The farm is incorporated with the heirs purchasing shares of the business. The real estate is held separately and leased to the operation so the farm owner can continue to draw income from the land. The transfer occurs gradually over 10 to 15 years.
Too often, Graham said, there is only a promise to the farming heir, with nothing in writing so when the farm owners die, the land is split equally among the children. Planning needs to take place much earlier than most people think.”
Read the full article here.
