Your Perfect Estate Plan
It’s time for your Southeast Regional Ag News. On the Ag Information Network I am Haylie Shipp.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of really good. That’s the quote that stuck with me after recently interviewing Jolene Brown, agricultural estate planning extraordinaire, as a guest on my Ranch Stewards Podcast.
I’m sharing the details here because it is just flat-out good information and I’m in the midst of organizing an estate planning workshop that’ll be held on May 11, so the topic is in my brain.
Here’s more from our discussion….
“Until I get a senior generation to truly feel worthwhile and financially secure, they will and should not relinquish control.”
Light bulb moment. Jolene emphasized that when you’re transitioning a farm to a new generation, it might not be to your biological offspring…
“It does not have to continue with a family member to be a legacy.”
She says it comes down to three parts of the business that need to be transitioned…
“We have to transition the education: this is what we do. The experience: this is how we do it. But with both of hose things transitioning, we always must say, you’ve had a different education. What do we need to learn from you? Or you’ve gained more experiences. You’ve worked away from the ranch. What do we need to gain from you? And the third thing we then transition is the hard assets.”
Take a deeper dive by listening to the “Ranch Stewards Podcast,” available on all major platforms and, as I said, I am hosting a workshop this Saturday. It is available virtually. Details at https://ranchstewards.org/events/the-positives-of-passing-it-on/.
