Applications for Ohio Farm Bureau Health Plans now available
Members have three ways to apply: contacting a certified agent, calling 833-468-4280 or visiting ohiofarmbureauhealthplans.org.
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Planning for the future of your farm can be complicated enough without the bumps in the road life tends to produce. Now imagine that bump being a roadblock. There is, however, planning that can still be done for those instances. For the prepared business owner, they come in the form of buy/sell agreements.
A buy/sell agreement is a contract that provides for the sale of a business interest (including a farm) when a triggering event occurs such as the death, disability or retirement of a farmer. Below are the specifics to help determine if a buy/sell agreement should be considered:
• The benefits: When a triggering event occurs, the buy/sell agreement enables those in the arrangement to continue the operation in harmony since the event has already been planned for. The agreement allows everyone to maintain ownership and control, and safeguards against someone now being forced into the farm operation that doesn’t have an interest in participating, for example, a child or widow. Also, depending on how the agreement is structured, it provides sufficient cash to be immediately available to carry out necessary transactions or to provide liquidity for estate expenses.
Questions to ask yourself
To better help determine if you should consider a buy/sell agreement, here are some questions to ask yourself.
• With no agreement in place might your family or partner’s family make unreasonable demands?
• Are you concerned about your family being neglected if you aren’t in the picture and there is no agreement in place?
• Do you want to be in business with your partner’s spouse or child?
How else these agreements are used
In addition to using buy/sell agreements for farms with multiple owners, these arrangements are also used in sound business and estate planning when the single owner (or married owners) of a farm would like to pass on their land and operation to their heirs so that they may carry it on. This method has proven to be effective in providing widowed spouses with income in retirement or to aid in the transition of a farm or ranch to the next generation.
When thinking about buy/sell agreements or other business planning strategies, it’s important to enlist the help of qualified professionals who don’t have a stake in the final decisions. Qualified professionals may include a banker, accountant, personal attorney or a financial or estate planner. For help in finding a qualified professional to speak with, contact the Nationwide Land As Your Legacy team at [email protected] or toll-free at 855-529-2729.
Neither Nationwide, nor its employees, its agents, brokers or registered representatives gives legal or tax advice.
Nationwide, the Nationwide N and Eagle, Nationwide is on your side and Land As Your Legacy are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. © 2017 Nationwide
My first recommendation in your journey is to start out with a local farming friend or mentor along with joining an organization like Ohio Farm Bureau.
We’re just so thankful for the Farm Bureau and the foundation for helping put this together. And of course, the Boyert family for the vision they had with this grant. It’s jumping us forward 10 years. It’s unbelievable.
I could not have done it without the resources I have found through Farm Bureau.
It wasn’t until I joined the Wilmington College Collegiate Farm Bureau that I truly saw how my passion could translate into leadership, advocacy and a career.
The issue of property taxation remains as one of the biggest challenges our members face today. Ensuring agricultural property is valued for its agricultural potential and not development is critical to the continued success of Ohio agriculture.
Through the Select Partner program, we became educated in farm insurance and weren't just selling policies. It became more and more clear why farmers need an advocate like Ohio Farm Bureau.
So many of the issues that OFBF and its members are advocating for are important to all Ohioans. I look at OFBF as an agricultural watchdog advocating for farmers and rural communities across Ohio.
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