Farm Restructuring and Estate Planning
Planning for the transition of a farm or small business is no small challenge. It is necessary, however, when a family wants to pass on the legacy of the business to the next generation or is looking to expand or restructure and reduce associated business risks. This is an especially important process for agriculture due to the aging farm population. The average age of the American farmer is 57, indicating that a significant turnover of management and farmland will occur within the next 10 to 20 years.
Ice Miller assists farm families and operations with all aspects of these transitions, including estate planning, farm tax planning and farm restructurings. Estate planning requires the identification and implementation of the clients' individual desires while considering family, financial and tax issues. Our attorneys are experienced in innovative planning techniques that address the objectives of our clients with individual attention and sensitivity. We prepare carefully tailored wills, trusts and many other instruments that include sophisticated tax minimization techniques. When clients pass away, we provide counsel to executors, trustees and beneficiaries in the often complex administration of estates and trusts, including federal estate tax matters, and the many elections that are involved in them.
Farm income tax planning and management is also a necessary step in developing a farm business and succession plan. Income tax planning and management involves being aware of tax alternatives and choosing the alternative that best meets the farm's business objectives.
Farm businesses typically are organized as sole proprietorships, the simplest form of a business entity. In appropriate cases, a more complex form of business entity can address certain risks of sole ownership and also serve as an effective farm transfer tool. Ice Miller works with farm operators to identify and put in place the form of business organization that best meets their goals and objectives. Many factors are evaluated with the client, including tax consequences, costs of formation, complexity, limitations on liability, needs of outside investors, estate planning and transition issues, and other goals of the owners.
Ice Miller provides this comprehensive planning for farm operators, but also works closely with other service providers including accountants and tax advisers to successfully develop and execute an appropriate and unique plan for each farm business.
