Good Intentions Aren’t Enough in Farm Succession Planning

Author remains anonymous to protect the privacy of family members.

My mom loved her children and the land where she raised us. She instilled both a work ethic and a land ethic. We knew the value of active tending and appreciated what made the land productive and alive. We knew the waterways, wildflowers, and wildlife; the garden and fruit trees; pastures and pond; hills and gullies. Mom would call out names of birds when she heard their calls.

After Dad died, Mom put her affairs in order. Her Will and Trust included simple language that boiled down to this: distribute everything equally among the children. In a Letter of Intent (not legally binding), she articulated “things that endure” as principles to guide us:

Love for family
Laws of nature
Consequences of caring stewardship vs. unwise management; and the value of the land to our family and local community
Respect and appreciation for the order in which the natural world sustains and renews itself

We read the letter and filed it away. Things went along all right for a while. We signed a Tenants in Common (TIC) Agreement that basically said we’d agree on what needs to be done. Even with little detail, that seemed good enough for the time being. Everyone was healthy and busy with their respective lives, work, and families. As each of the four of us could, we came around to take care of Mom and tend the family property. Some of us were able to do more than others, and somehow, the essential—or at least the urgent—things got done. Our time and effort would all even out over time. Or so I thought.

Mom’s time came at age 95. Peaceful, and not surprising. What we could not have anticipated, though, was that in the few years prior, first one, then another of her four children would experience an aggressive cancer and die. After Mom’s passing, her Will and Trust interpreted, our family property was re-titled in the names of five people. Two were children who had grown up on the land; the other three were the widow and young adult children of our brothers who passed.

Land provides value, in addition to its intrinsic value as a natural living system, for many human uses and benefits. Land can be a financial asset or commodity, can have agricultural productive value, can provide ecological services, can have aesthetic and recreational value, and land can be a home to humans and wildlife alike.

How does each of us value this land of which we have inherited a portion? Childhood home and family homestead? Integral part of a watershed, ecosystem, and community? Financial asset with a house that can be rented for current income until the property can be sold to a high-bidding developer?

The five of us had never imagined we would be co-owners and managers of a business together. The reality was that we had to care for this property and address the ways the house and land had suffered from deferred maintenance. Barns obeyed laws of gravity and cycles of decomposition and drew close to the earth. Grass and brush were grown, trees had died and fallen. We needed to open a bank account, maintain an insurance policy, and repair the house to a condition it could be rented.

Conversations began unfolding something like this:

“This structure is not safe.”
“We need to replace the hot water heater that quit.”
“The sewer backed up because the line has collapsed.”
“We need to clear the dead tree that fell across the road.”
“The 80-year-old water line needs to be replaced; it has sprung yet another leak!”

With varying reactions such as:

“It looks ok to me.”
“The one at our house is older and it still works fine.”
“We don’t have money for that in the account.”
“We want the income from the property to pay all its expenses.”
“We don’t agree to that, so we are not going to pay for it.”

Our decision-making processes have been insufficient for the complexities we face. We have questions of governance, cash flow, owner contributions, distributions, and the amount needed in a repair fund. The TIC Agreement states that we do things when we all agree. What about when we don’t? How do we ensure equitable sharing of time, energy, and money?

To try to end this difficult shared-ownership situation, the conversation turned to the possibility of buying co-owners’ shares. With disparities between the appraised and speculative property values, and the perceived value of the land, we were unable to reach any kind of agreement.

Sadly, our differences in perspectives and priorities have led to discord, lack of trust, hurt, and hard feelings. Co-owning this property together has strained the fabric of our family relations, perhaps beyond repair. Even with the support of mediation, solutions remain elusive. We agitate in our respective wash-cycles of perception and experience. How can we find our way forward with respect and good will? How can we steward this land now and into the future? How can we each get what we really need, and a measure of what we want, to live with satisfaction and fulfillment?

This situation is not at all what my mother intended. I hope that sharing my story and providing some practical ideas and references to legal resources can help someone else avoid what has happened among us. Had Mom been able to imagine how things would play out, I think she would have said something like this instead:

I have lived on and cared for this land for the past 70 years. Knowing it, I have come to see it as precious. I love my children so much that I am not going to leave the family property to all of you together.

It has been difficult to reckon with the less-than-ideal realities of our family and face my own mortality. This process requires letting go of a dream and grieving its loss. I wanted to trust in your willingness and capacity to invest time and money to care for this land; to work together on land stewardship with family harmony. Honestly, it’s not what I’ve seen happening among you. Each of you is following your own interests and inclinations, aspirations and callings. It would be naïve to think that my death will bring closeness where there has been distance; shared visions where there has been divergence; ease in decision-making where you have persistently expressed diverging viewpoints; and (this one is hard to admit) healing where trauma has been associated with this place.

I have taken time to educate myself about my options, keeping my eyes open to the possible intended and unintended consequences for my family, community, and land. Working with capable professionals who understand the uniqueness of our situation and the complexities of interpersonal dynamics, I see it would not be a good idea for you to own fractional interests of an undivided property. I am using appropriate legal tools to map out an alternate plan. Setting my affairs in order in this way is my gift to you. It brings me peace of mind in the present and will avert pain and conflict for you down the road. This approach is the best possible way to balance my goals for stewardship of this land, the best interests of the community, and the wellbeing of every one of my heirs.

For me, this story has unfolded over the past few years, through myriad emotions, from mourning to hope, confusion, fear, anger, deep sadness, questions, and now, on to determination. What matters most in the time I have left to dance with so many other tender, resilient beings on the living crust of this beautiful blue globe? My decisions will have an impact far beyond my lifetime. I am working on my own succession plan to facilitate peace in my family, and access to land by those with the capacity to work for practical land use strategies to take care of this land so that its health contributes to the wellbeing of the whole community.

Resources from ATTRA:

Risk Management: Heirs’ Property with Attorney Andrea Barnes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32BKS0vDUFo

Related article:
Heirs’ Property: The Legal Issue That Has Cost Black Farmers $326 Billion. September 21, 2023, by Archie Creech
https://blog.ucsusa.org/archie-creech/heirs-property-the-legal-issue-that-has-cost-black-farmers-326-billion/?emci=073d2e1a-735e-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&emdi=0f08ed80-f65e-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&ceid=2001466

Stories of Experience: Succession Strategies and Cautionary Tales

Frantzens to bequeath farm to PFI: Preserving their farm “generation after generation” is paramount.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/renewingthecountryside/pages/677/attachments/original/1510097773/Frantzen_RTC_website.pdf?1510097773

Farm Profile: Tom and Irene Frantzen and their 300 acre Organic Farm in Iowa
https://www.agrariantrust.org/farm-profile-tom-and-irene-frantzen-new-hampton-iowa-by-jean-caspers-simmet/

‘A psychological blow’: Farmers struggle with emotional weight of losing land to development. Paved Over: Generational ties, identity and purpose make farmland loss uniquely painful — and experts warn the mental health impact is escalating. https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-operations/-a-psychological-blow-farmers-struggle-with-emotional-weight-of-losing-land-to-development?utm_rid=CPG02000008489713&utm_campaign=104970&utm_medium=email&elq2=907c5c4b17794bbb9f974fbd04016986&sp_eh=54253693183eb833a6e39ca4dab2768d807401229a0c2ea146804e542447f37c

Planning Guides and Training Resources

Constructing a Farm Succession Plan: Elements to Consider, Melissa O’Rourke, former extension farm and agribusiness management specialist, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Farm Management Specialists
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c4-17.html

Ties to the land: Succession planning for rural landowners
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pnw-763-ties-land-succession-planning-rural-landowners

(Español: Vínculos con la tierra: Planificación de la sucesión para los propietarios rurales
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/es/catalog/pnw-763-ties-land-succession-planning-rural-landowners)

Farm Commons Basic guidance on the legal process of transitioning your farm business and land to new owners. See interactive workbooks. https://farmcommons.org/resources/articles/farm-succession-planning-basics/

Family Farm Succession Secrets
https://www.farmersdelight.org/family-farm-succession-secrets/

University of Wisconsin Farm Management Division of Extension’s Business Development, Transition & Succession https://farms.extension.wisc.edu/article-topic/farm-succession-estate-planning/

Common strategies to consider for Fair vs. Equal
https://farms.extension.wisc.edu/articles/common-strategies-to-consider-for-fair-vs-equal/

Cultivating Your Farm’s Future. A workbook for Farm Succession Planning in Wisconsin https://farms.extension.wisc.edu/programs/cultivating-your-farms-future/#workbook

Estate Planning Challenges and Strategies for Farm Families, A webinar presented by Robert Moore
https://nationalaglawcenter.org/webinars/estate-planning/

Organizations, Training and Facilitation

California FarmLink
https://www.californiafarlink.org/toolshed/farm-succession-guidebook

The Regenerator:  A Year of Farm Succession Planning Program
https://www.californiafarmlink.org/courses/the-regenerator

Land For Good
https://landforgood.org/

Equity Trust
https://equitytrust.org/

Agrarian Trust
https://www.agrariantrust.org/

Farmland Preservation
https://www.thefarmerslandtrust.org/farmland-preservation/

Elaine Froese
https://elainefroese.com/farm-family-coach/