As American farmers and ranchers age, they must decide how to pass on their life’s work. They can pass on a working business or they can sell off the land, equipment, livestock and facilities piecemeal. Coloring this basic decision are considerations of retirement income, long-term care payments, interests of heirs, and tax consequences.

Every farmer and rancher faces these inevitable decisions, yet an Iowa study found that two-thirds of farmers over age 65 had done little or no planning for retirement.

The documents in our Risk Management Workshop Series can help farmers and ranchers become better users of estate planning tools. The workshop provides basic information on retirement planning and farm/ranch transfer, processes that have grown in complexity in recent years. Since most of us begin or retire only once, it’s helpful to learn from advisers who have observed many stages of the process. These documents arose from the experiences of financial and legal counselors who have worked through these issues with hundreds of farm families in Nebraska.

These documents are provided as guides to introduce these topics. Many issues in estate planning require the specialized help of accountants or lawyers, to meet both your goals and the legal requirements. These guides DO NOT REPLACE expert advice from a professional. Instead, they are intended to help you figure out your needs, goals, and strategies so that you can consult professional legal and tax advisers with an informed and considered approach to your retirement planning, reducing the time and expense of working with them.