Succession Planning For Farmers

• Published date: 14 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Tax, Family and Matrimonial, Inheritance Tax, Wills/ Intestacy/ Estate Planning
• Law Firm: Rix & Kay
• Author: Mr Ian Best

Succession planning for farmers is a hugely valuable exercise that should be undertaken and one that can save significant sums of money.

Many farmers say that they never want to retire and stop farming. Maybe this is just because farming is in their blood but it is also an obvious way to ensure the family benefits from valuable tax reliefs. This is an essential and well used path for succession planning for farmers, with both Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief potentially available against inheritance tax upon death - if the farmer is still farming at the date of death.

Along side this or as an effective alternative, it is vital for famers to put in place plans for succession rather than to do nothing and to leave everything to be sorted out by the family after death.

Key things to consider for succession planning for farmers

Check the farm deeds

Where are the deeds, are they correct, whose name are they in and do they reflect the actual ownership of the farm? Are the deeds registered at HM Land Registry? If not, they should be, as registration of the deeds can prevent boundary disputes later on.

Your Will

Is a will in place? If not, the farmer should make a will to make sure that the farm goes where he wants it to following his death. If there is a will then is it up to date, does it do what the farmer wants, is it tax effective?

Agreements

Review the terms of any partnership agreements and if they are verbal agreements think...