Inheriting a farm with siblings: what if one wants to sell? For an Illinois family, that question can turn a shared inheritance into a difficult conversation about money, memories, and someone’s livelihood. One sibling may depend on the farm for income. Another may live several states away and need their inheritance to pay bills or prepare for retirement. Neither position …
For parents whose wealth is tied up in farmland, providing for every child while preserving the operation can be one of the hardest parts of succession planning. You may have one child who wants to continue farming and others who have built lives elsewhere. You want the operation to survive, but you also want every child to know they matter. …
Already married and own a farm? Can an Illinois postnuptial agreement help clarify how farmland, farm business interests, or future investments may be treated if the marriage ends? It may be worth discussing with an attorney, but a postnuptial agreement is not a guaranteed shield for the farm. Its terms, the circumstances surrounding its preparation, and how it fits with …
Who inherits the family farm in Illinois when one child farms and the others don’t? The child who works the land does not automatically inherit it. Without a plan, Illinois inheritance law may determine who receives an interest in the farm, while leaving the family to sort out who will operate it. That can be difficult when one child’s livelihood …
Can a prenup protect a family farm in Illinois? It can help a couple clarify what will happen to farmland and farm business interests during their marriage and if the marriage ends. For a family planning to pass the farm to the next generation, those expectations matter. The agreement should also fit with the farm’s business documents and the family’s …
Can a Trust Keep the Family Farm Out of Probate in Illinois? In many situations, yes, but simply signing a trust document is not enough. For a trust to accomplish its intended purpose, the farm assets that are supposed to be governed by the trust generally need to be properly transferred or otherwise connected to the estate plan. That distinction …
Farm Prenups in Illinois: Can a Prenuptial Agreement Protect the Family Farm? For someone who owns farmland, works in a multigenerational farming operation, or expects to inherit an interest in the family farm, a prenuptial agreement can address questions that go far beyond who gets what in a divorce. It can help a couple clarify ownership, protect family expectations, coordinate …
When Siblings Inherit the Family Farm and Disagree: Can Mediation Keep the Farm Together? It is a question many agricultural families face after the death of a parent or grandparent. One sibling may have spent decades working on the farm and want to continue the operation. Another may live out of state and prefer to sell. A third may want …
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, …
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 …
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 …
7 Farm Succession Planning Mistakes That Can Tear a Family Apart addresses a problem many farm families quietly postpone. Parents, farming children, and off-farm siblings may each hold different expectations about what will happen. When those expectations are never discussed or documented, grief can quickly become conflict. Farm succession planning should coordinate land ownership, management, retirement, incapacity planning, equipment, leases, …