The New Federal Estate Tax Law: Why Minnesota Farmers Still Need to Plan Ahead What does passage into law of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act mean for Minnesota farmers? The new federal law sets a $15 million estate tax exemption ($30 million for marri…
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Estate Planning: A Living Service, Not a Dead Document When most people hear the term estate planning, they picture a thick binder of documents sitting on a shelf or tucked into a safe deposit box, only to be dusted off after someone dies. That perce…
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3 Simple Ways to Avoid Probate Costs The bad news: When a person dies owning property in their sole name without a beneficiary, their loved ones will have to go through a court-supervised process called probate to transfer the property out of the dec…
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Is a Simple Will Enough for a Farm Succession Plan? Short answer: No. A simple will cannot protect a working farm. It may be fine for a young couple with minimal assets, but for farm families, it’s a dangerous shortcut that often leads to probate,…
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How to Help Your Loved Ones (and Your Life Savings) Avoid Probate Today, many people use a revocable living trust instead of a will, joint ownership, or beneficiary designation as the foundation of their estate plan. When properly prepared, a trust a…
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Nosy Neighbor Nellie Can Find Out About Your Probate Most people think of probate (the process of collecting, managing, and distributing a deceased person’s money and property) as a private process. However, because probate involves the court syste…
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The #1 Risk No Farmer Expects in Succession Planning When most families think about succession planning for the farm, they focus on the obvious: taxes, land values, debt, and the details of ownership. But there’s another risk that often goes overlo…
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Help! This Probate Is Taking Forever! After a loved one dies, their money and property that goes through probate must be distributed to the people legally entitled to it, either according to a last will and testament (also called a will) or the state…
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How Often Should You Update Your Farm Estate Plan? You’ve taken the important step of creating a farm estate plan. You’ve identified who will carry on the operation, made decisions about how assets will be passed on, and set the groundwork for yo…
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When “Joint” Isn’t Joint Enough—Property Titles & Ownership Surprises Introduction You might think owning something “together” means exactly that—you and your spouse, sibling, or business partner share equal ownership and contro…
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