I just got off the phone with my brother who is talking about selling the family farm to his son. He intends to live off the interest income.
In fact his son would pay only the interest on the mortgage to my brother who would hold the mortgage. He would have income and his son would have a deductible amount for his income tax . Another major advantage of this approach is that my brother continues to hold the mortgage. If for some reason his son is unable to meet the terms of the mortgage, the farm would move back to my brother.
This approach allows my brother to have some income during his own retirement. He will be able to live a comfortable life without needing to sell the farm.A 3rd party in not involved and he does not need to move some place else. It also means that the farm will stay within the family. This is important for us since the farm has been in the family for close to 150 years. Finally my nephew can get on with developing the farm in a manner that he wants to without being controlled by my brother. After all he owns the farm and it is his to do with what he wants to.
Another advantage for my brother is that he can continue to help his son on the farm when he is able and feels like it. This is also part of an estate plan. Knowing what you will do during retirement is something that is important for you own personal well being. An estate planner may not help too much in this area since this is not his forte. However it is important for all retirees to have something that they enjoy doing. Something that challenges then and keeps them busy when they have a great deal of time to themselves during retirement.
The down side in this case is that my brother may have a difficult time moving from owner to advisor and helper. This will be a transition for him and it may take a year or two before he completely makes the transition. Transition of ownership and decision making must be managed properly. They want to avoid relationship issues and problems that could get between him, his son and his family. I am sure they will work it all out. But readers should take this into account when they are thinking about transitioning the business to close relatives.
This brings up another issue which many people must face. In many cases there is more than one child. In my brother’s case he is planning to transition the estate to his son. When he retires he will purchase a home in a small town nearby and move into this home. When he passes on his daughter will receive the house as her part of the estate. The issue of making sure that all children are treated fairly in an estate plan is something that estate planners can also help with. Not everyone will treat all children the same which is unfortunate in the writer’s opinion, but this does occur a great deal.
It is steps like these that an estate planner can really help people plan their financial affairs. They can enable income and minimize tax and transition the estate, whether it is a family farm or a business to your next of kin!
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