Who will own your farm in 10 years?

Welcome to our series on Estate Planning.

To watch our short video series on Estate Planning by Matt Meehan, follow this link. 

Estate Planning is not just about your Will.

The reason I say this is because people often think that their Estate Planning is sorted just because they have a Will.

This isn’t the case.

Your Will often only relates to your own assets.

In different farming situations, you might have Companies, Trusts, and Super Funds as part of the ownership structure of off-farm and on farm assets, including the land, the plant, equipment, and livestock.

Estate planning is not just about your will. It’s about your assets: How they are owned, who or what they are owned by, or whether it’s through another entity.

Pulling this together, it’s crucial to make sure you’re clear from the beginning about where you need to be now and into the future.

When it comes to estate planning, something I have often seen is that not much thought is put into the wishes of those who will benefit from your estate plan itself.

The important element here is to make sure that all stakeholders are involved in the estate planning process, your family, your children, and their children. 

Focus on questions around their future. What are their aspirations? What are their goals?

I often say, it doesn’t have to be equitable, but it does have to be fair. 

Want to know how to avoid succession planning disaster? Read our last blog post here.

Cheers,
Matt.