{"id":210726,"date":"2025-10-13T17:43:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210726\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T17:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:43:09","slug":"estate-planning-important-for-farmers-says-grand-forks-firm-grand-forks-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/210726\/","title":{"rendered":"Estate planning important for farmers, says Grand Forks firm – Grand Forks Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRAND FORKS \u2013 As they consider the future of their farming operations, one of the biggest mistakes farmers make is not starting estate planning early, said Ray German, who specializes in this type of work at the German Law firm, with offices located in the Grand Cities Mall, 1726 S. Washington St.<\/p>\n

Attention to these details is crucial to developing a plan that ensures the transfer of farmland and other property to the next generation is carried out according to the farmer\u2019s wishes, German said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people think they have got to be on their deathbed before they can do planning,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ray's<\/p>\n

Farmers need to take a \u201cproactive\u201d approach in this matter; \u201cthey need to be looking 10, 20, 30 years down the road,\u201d he said. \u201cThe main thing is, start early and do proper planning \u2013 and proper planning starts with education.\u201d<\/p>\n

German also asks his clients \u2013 and prospective clients \u2013 to consider \u201cwhat would happen if you die tomorrow in a farm accident,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they haven\u2019t done proper planning, it leaves a real mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

With proper estate planning, families can avoid lawsuits and stay out of court, avoid probate, unwanted publicity and competition between children, he said. \u201cThat can all be eliminated if it\u2019s done properly.\u201d<\/p>\n

At his firm, which has specialized in estate planning since 2009, German asks clients to attend a seminar \u2013 either in person or online \u2013 that explains farm transitioning, in general, and helps clarify what they need to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to help clients realize that there\u2019s more than one or two issues\u201d involved in the process of turning over the farm to their offspring, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people come in and say, \u2018I just want the farm to go to Larry; he\u2019s been farming it,\u2019 etc.,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that may be their first issue, but we really want to find out how many issues are they concerned about, and what is the priority of those so that we make sure we cover what\u2019s of concern to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When clients meet with him, he said, it\u2019s important that all the decision-makers who are involved in the process are present.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want all the decision-makers there,\u201d he said. \u201cTypically, it\u2019s husband and wife and sometimes they want a child there, they want the farming child, they want their accountant there. Also, but seldom, we have another attorney, for some reason, that\u2019s maybe a real estate attorney or (someone else), and we welcome them.\u201d<\/p>\n

German uses a checklist of issues that helps prioritize concerns.<\/p>\n

The most common issue farmers have is being sure the farm is preserved and will transfer to the farming child or children, he said. To this end, the German Law firm uses a unique Legacy Land Trust \u2013 which is modified with each clan \u2013 that sets out how the farming child will be given the ability to rent the land, usually at a reduced price, German said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a period of renting, the farming child typically has the option of buying the property from the trust at a reduced price also, making it possible so that the farming child doesn\u2019t have to get financing \u2013 they don\u2019t have to go borrow millions of dollars, which takes a lot of time nowadays \u2013 to be fair to the other children. \u2026 They can take ownership earlier so they\u2019re not spending their whole life paying off mortgages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clients who are in their 30s and 40s can create an estate plan that ensures that \u201ctheir interest in the farm is going to stay with their children down the road,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, if it\u2019s later in life, most of the time \u2013 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s \u2013 we\u2019re going to be dealing with placing the assets in trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

In estate planning, various circumstances can come into play, German said, such as a farm couple divorcing or the need to assure that the interests of a child with disabilities, including financial benefits, are protected.<\/p>\n

When a farm couple divorces, the farming spouse may want to make sure assets stay in the family and do not flow to the ex\u2019s new spouse or that person\u2019s offspring. In such cases, a prenuptial agreement may be required if the ex-spouse chooses to remarry.<\/p>\n

In some situations, the parents want to get out of farming totally, but, for income tax purposes, it\u2019s better for them to stay involved in the farming operation, although they aren\u2019t actively involved. They may defer income \u2013 delay the sale of a crop, for example \u2013 in order to potentially pay less in income tax. As a firm that offers financial coaching, \u201cwe like to work with the CPAs (certified public accountants) of clients because the tax aspect is a big part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those farmers who put an estate plan in place, German recommends that they review that plan \u201cevery three to five years, and maybe sooner,\u201d he said, to learn about any new laws, statutes or tax laws that may affect their plan.<\/p>\n

For more information, call German Law at (701) 738-0060 or visit https:\/\/germanlawgf.com .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GRAND FORKS \u2013 As they consider the future of their farming operations, one of the biggest mistakes farmers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-210726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}