; Helping Ohio Farm Families Transfer their Farm | Conferences | AgRisk Library

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Conference Name Helping Ohio Farm Families Transfer their Farm

David Marrison

Summary

With major changes to federal estate taxes in recent years, many farm families were confused and concerned they needed to adjust their tax planning strategies. With the increased interest in estate planning, OSU Extension Educators developed a comprehensive workshop complete with curriculum and PowerPoint presentations to help address Ohio farm families’ estate planning questions. Topics taught during the workshops included: family communication strategies, checklists of documents needed, different estate planning tools with their tax ramifications, business continuity with off-farm heir strategies, and long-term care issues. The educational material was presented in an all day workshop followed by individual consultation if requested by the farm family.

A total of five workshops were offered in 2010-2011 reaching 121 participants from across Ohio. Program evaluations using a six point Likert scale indicated participants increased their knowledge in every area measured. The top areas of knowledge gain were participant understanding of the different estate planning tools (+1.94), understanding long term care issues (+1.86), knowing what estate planning documents should be developed (+1.82), how to address the issues with off-farm heirs (+1.73), understanding of business transfer strategies (+1.72), and understanding the tax issues related to their estate (1.63). Additionally, 95% of the families indicated they plan to hold an intergenerational family meeting and 84% of the families indicated they planned to follow-up with their attorney to make changes to their estate plan. As a result of these workshops Extension Educators have held individual consultations with participants and were invited to three family meetings to assist.

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