The credit for the invention of the boomerang goes to the Aborigines. Prehistoric man would throw stones or sticks at prey. Eventually, they r…
Updating results
“Succession planning may be one of the most important topics that farmers and ranchers need education on,” said Chad Johnson, a Groton farmer and member of the South Dakota Farmers Union board.
Dear Michael: We watched with shock and dismay about the events recently at the Capitol building, as it was being stormed with protestors. We …
Dear Michael: It looks like we have a new president in Joe Biden. What does this mean for estate planning? Are we going back to income and est…
I don’t know if you’ve been reading the newspapers, but one out of every six small business (employees under 100) are going out of business due to the virus. Farming, like a lot of other businesses, has had a bad time since almost 2016 or thereabouts.
For this farming operation, sharing machinery worked early on. But how do you sort things out now that the operation has grown? Michael Baron explains.
"We’ve all reached the age when we would like to quit but no one wants to buy the other out. We had talked about a buy-sell agreement but never put anything into writing."
"What I did find out was that Minnesota changed its rules in 2001, South Dakota changed its rules in 2017, but North Dakota hasn’t changed the rules. It would appear to me that the winds of change are blowing."
Dear Michael: Like many people in our area, we too have a life estate with our children as residual deed owners. We completed this in 2012 and…
Dear Michael: With the recent events in the world, we don’t know what the future will hold. We stay in our home as much as possible – easy to …
Dear Michael: We are just turning 60 and feel like we have everything set up for our farm with the exception we have no nursing home insurance…
COOKSVILLE, Ill. — The Scholl and O’Neall families have been neighbors and acquaintances for at least four generations, and business partners …
Dear Michael: We have our farmland and a lot of different investments in different areas – such as CDs, REITs, annuities, etc. We have three g…
Dear Michael: We have heard of new legislation making it through Congress regarding retirement plans. Can you give us some background informat…
"We know we should sit down and talk to our kids about our estate planning. With the holidays approaching, many of our children will be home to visit. Do you think it’s a good time to visit about estate planning when there is so much going on?"
Dear Michael: We read your article about Power of Attorney being given to one of our children. We did this several years ago, but now our chil…
"It is society’s responsibility to provide an opportunity for the next generation by teaching them versus competing against them." Will Walter from the South Dakota Center for Farm and Ranch Management talks about farming through the generations.
While most businesses use real estate, unique planning issues arise for family-farm owners because of the importance of real estate to the far…
Dear Michael: We completed our wills about 10 years ago, so they are fairly up-to-date. We are now reaching retirement age and we’d like one o…
Moving on from your operation is never an easy choice, especially in uncertain times, but Elaine Froese, a certified life coach who travels th…
Claire was the middle child in her family, but even at a young age others could see that she would be the leader. She always seemed to be in c…
We have our wills done to our satisfaction. We feel pretty comfortable. Is everything we have enough?
About two and a half years ago, my brother and I had ‘The Talk’ with our parents. They had remained on the farm a few years longer than most o…
This week marked my 27th anniversary helping farm families transition their life’s work to the next generation. It started for me back in July…
Dear Michael: We just entered into a large Contract for Deed with someone for some land we have been farming for decades. We’ve probably alrea…