Leading the Way
How leadership works on the ranch.
contributed article by B. Lynn Gordon Leader Consulting, Sioux Falls, S.D. leaderconsulting.biz
KEEPING THE FARM IN THE FAMILY PART THREE - COMMUNICATING YOUR LEGACY “M
aking your vision for your farm’s transition a reality means communicating with family,” says, Heather Vengana-Whipple, a financial associate with Thrivent Financial. “Talking about money may be easy or difficult, based on past experiences.” Venenga-Whipple has worked with hundreds of farm families and has developed a process that can take six months to a year for families to work through but it has proven to be effective in achieving more open communication. “It all begins with partner communication.” She explains, the husband and wife need to discuss what they want to have happen with their legacy. The details of the legacy can be further worked on during the farm transition strategy sessions, but the initial discussion must take place for the process to begin.
December 2020
“This is where many families get tripped up.” This step either happens to early in the process or occurs when the parents bring in all family members with the hopes of coming to a consensus.
24
“Do not bring your family in around a table and decide that you are going to vote on what is going to happen.” Why does Venenga-Whipple caution against this? Her reasoning is the focus moves
away from the business decision and gives way to emotions and long-term grudges which may overtake the discussion. “Mom and dad built the farm, they worked and grew it, they need to be the ones who make the decisions.” After the decisions are made and the plan is written out, the parents or the generation who owns the operation can then communicate to the family members the details of the estate management plan they are willing to share at that time. This doesn’t mean no discussions can take place across the generations, but she has learned this works better in one-on-one discussions with a dad and son, or dad and daughter, for example.
___
“Making your vision for your farm’s transition a reality means communicating with family.”
___
SETTING PRIORITIES However, an important role for the generation who are non-owners is to encourage their parents to develop a farm transition strategy. Venenga-Whipple describes this like driving the bus from the middle. The next generation wants to make sure the farm keeps going but they don’t own it and can’t make the decisions, yet their parents or grandparents have not made estate planning a priority. Their responsibility in driving the bus from the middle is to help their parents get educated on the topic and empower them to take action. With busy schedules, uncertainty of how to divide up the legacy, and other parameters for farm families, it is easy for a planning process to stall. They also are hesitant of the time commitment away from the farm to develop a plan. In addition, the owner generation most likely obtained the farm when there were fewer rules and paperwork than what will be required this time around. “You don’t wait to go to the doctor until you have all the answers, you go to seek out the answers. This should be the same with estate planning,” says Lindsay Harris, a succession planning attorney at Harris Law & Co. thestockmanmag.com | THE STOCKMAN