Estate Planning

Planning Early Can Get You a Discount - At Least if You Live in Montana (and Own a Farm)

By Hull & Hull LLP

I came across an interesting article in The Prairie Star, a Montana-based newspaper, about an incentive being offered to farm and ranch couples, both young and old, who plan their estates early. 

Montana State University is offering a promotion whereby the first 40 couples who work through an estate planning process will receive $100.00 off any follow-up legal fees.    

A reason for the program is to encourage families in the agricultural business to start thinking about how they are going to plan their estates early on.  This is especially important where there is an operational farm which will make up the bulk of the estate.  Complications can arise when, for example, there is no clear plan in place and one beneficiary wants to keep and run the business, while another wants to take his or her inheritance in cash.

The presence of a family farm can affect the estate planning of more than one generation.  For example, members of an older generation may control the farm, while members of a younger generation may be structuring their estates in anticipation of inheriting it.  Or, members of multiple generations might have ownership interests in the farm that will affect the way it can be dealt with in the estate of any one of them. 

Of course, many of the issues that families owning a farm in Montana my face are the same as those faced by families owning any kind of business anywhere.  However, the program does underscore the importance of planning early and planning well. 

You can read more about the program in Montana here.

Thanks for reading,

Megan F. Connolly

Full post as published by Toronto Estate Law Blog on February 21, 2008 (boomark / email).