| SUCCESSION
& ESTATE PLANNING |
Good succession and
estate planning conserves ranches, rangelands and ranching communities.
It does so by helping to maintain "working ranches" - keeping ranchlands
for ranching, rather than seeing them converted to non-agricultural uses.
If done proactively (i.e. earlier, rather than later!), a ranch family
usually has many more tools and options to choose from in meeting their
objectives. Ignoring the issue until a crisis comes along can severely
restrict the family's options. For this reason, SALTS developed a program
to help ranch families address the sometimes prickly issues surrounding
succession and estate planning.
The "Passing It On" program is designed to help ranch families identify
the objectives of their succession/estate plan, understand some of the
possible options for achieving them and create a rough draft of their
objectives. Taking these initial steps will prove to be of great value,
saving time and money when beginning the discussions with accountants
and lawyers. Remember though, the input from trusted planning professionals
is critical for the further development, refinement, review and implementation
of the plan.
HOW DOES ESTATE PLANNING = CONSERVATION? |
For some, the link
between good agricultural estate and succession planning and land conservation
may not be obvious. However, many farms and ranches are unwillingly sold
for development because families did not start succession planning at
the appropriate time.
The average age of
Alberta's ranchers is increasing at a rapid pace. Individuals heading
single person agricultural operations in Alberta averaged 50.2 years of
age in 1996 as compared to 48.9 in 1991. Many of these people will retire
in the next 10 to 15 years, resulting in a tremendous amount of land changing
hands. The continuing challenges to ranching profitability, low recruitment
of new individuals into ranching and escalating land prices will put many
of Canada's most productive and ecologically significant landscapes at
risk of being permanently lost to development. This risk will increase
the need for ranching families to have well thought out land and business
succession plans.
In order to facilitate
this process, SALTS' Passing It On - Tax, Succession and Conservation
Planning Program aims to integrate rangeland, wildlife habitat and watershed
preservation into ranch business and succession planning.
SALTS wants to help
ranchers understand the options and tools available to preserve the productive,
environmental, cultural, scenic and aesthetic values of their ranchlands
for future generations. Often, long-term land conservation objectives
cannot be properly contemplated without addressing the issues of succession,
tax and estate planning.
In addition, the program
is supplying estate and financial planning professionals with information
about integrating land conservation options into agricultural tax and
succession plans. This includes specific information about conservation
easements and issues encountered when assisting families in completing
these agreements, greatly increasing the number of people we can reach
with information about conserving private land.
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