Divorce Mediation for Farm Families in Illinois: Can You Protect the Farm Without Going to Court? For many farm families, that question carries far more weight than a typical property-division dispute. A farm may be a family’s home, livelihood, business, retirement plan, and legacy all at once. When a marriage ends, decisions about farmland, equipment, livestock, operating entities, debt, and …
Farm Lease Disputes in Illinois: When Mediation Can Help Landowners and Farmers Avoid Litigation is an increasingly important question when a disagreement threatens a working relationship, a farming operation, or plans for the next crop year. A farm lease is more than an agreement about acreage and rent. It can affect planting decisions, input purchases, improvements, financing, access to land, …
Divorcing a Business Owner in Illinois: What Happens to the Business? can be a much more complicated question than deciding who keeps a house or how a bank account should be divided. A closely held business may represent income, years of work, family wealth, and one spouse’s future livelihood all at the same time. Whether the relevant asset is an …
Should a Family Farm Have a Buy-Sell Agreement? What Happens When an Owner Dies, Divorces, or Wants Out? is a question farm families should consider long before an ownership change becomes urgent. A family farming operation may involve parents, siblings, children, cousins, or multiple generations who own land or interests in an LLC or other business entity together. Everyone may …
By Sam Ellis, Esq. When USDA says no, an unfavorable agency decision does not necessarily mean the matter is over. In “When USDA Says No: Understanding the National Appeals Division Appeal Process,” Sam Ellis, Esq., of Rincker Law, PLLC, explains what farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural program participants should know about challenging certain adverse USDA decisions through the National Appeals …
Can an LLC Protect the Family Farm From a Divorce? What Illinois Farm Owners Should Know is an important question for farm families who have spent years or generations building agricultural businesses and accumulating farmland, equipment, livestock, and other valuable assets. An LLC can be a useful part of a farm’s legal and succession structure, but simply placing a family …
Starting a Business With a Friend or Family Member in Illinois? Put These Agreements in Writing First may not sound like the most exciting advice when two people are enthusiastic about launching a new company. But some of the hardest business disputes begin with people who trusted each other enough to believe they did not need formal agreements. Friends, siblings, …
2027 Illinois Farm Leases: What Landowners and Farmers Should Negotiate Before Harvest Ends is a conversation many Illinois farmers and farmland owners should be having before the combines are parked for the season. Farm lease discussions often happen in the fall, but waiting until the last minute can leave both sides rushing through important decisions involving rent, expenses, improvements, conservation …
August Is National Make-a-Will Month: 7 Estate Planning Documents Illinois Families Should Review is a timely reminder that estate planning is about more than deciding who receives your property after you die. A good estate plan can also address who may handle your finances if you become incapacitated, who can make health care decisions for you, and how a family …
Your Child With a Disability Is Turning 18: Is Guardianship the Only Option in Illinois? is a question many parents ask during the final years of high school. After years of coordinating medical care, school services, finances, and daily support, families are often told they need guardianship to continue helping. Guardianship may be appropriate for some young adults, but it …
Who Pays College Tuition After Divorce in Illinois? What Parents Need to Know Before Move-In Day is a question that often becomes urgent in late summer. Tuition statements arrive, housing deposits are due, and parents may suddenly realize that their divorce judgment never clearly explained how college costs would be divided. In Illinois, contribution toward a child’s post-high-school education is …
Agricultural Law Updates for Illinois Farmers and Agribusinesses: July 2026 reviews several recent federal and state developments affecting producers, processors, rural communities, and agricultural businesses. In the July 2026 issue of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Agricultural Law newsletter, Rincker Law attorneys Sam Ellis and Cari Brett Rincker co-authored “Ag Law in the News: July 2026,” an overview of developments …