There is a lot to think about when putting together a succession plan for a farm: Will it stay in the family or be sold? If it does stay in the family, will all or some of your children remain active? How long do you want to stay involved in the operations? The path to get where you want can be daunting. Luckily, there are certain steps that can be taken now to make the process easier when you are ready to transition. One step we suggest is to separate the farm land from the farming operations.

At some point in life, many of us will sign a “Power of Attorney” (POA) and designate one of our children to be our “attorney in fact.”  Or, perhaps we have been named as attorney in fact for our own parents.  Being designated as an attorney in fact means that you have the authority to transact business for the person who appointed you (the principal).

I just returned from the American Bar Association Technology Show in Chicago (ABA Tech Show).  What a rush, absorbing the newest technology for law firms and learning from presentations by the Nation’s leading tech consultants. As I reflect on what I learned, I’m happy to know that our office is up to date and secure in our practices.  In fact, it seems we are quite a bit ahead of the curve because we have adopted paperless policies and have a leading document management utility in place.  Of course, there is always room for improvement and I was able to get inspired to improve some of our practices.