Blog

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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,… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More

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… Read More