Farm and ranch estate planning and business planning involve countless choices and numerous wrenching decisions but none that ranks with pursuing fairness between and among the heirs.10 In almost every situation where it is planned for the farm or ranch business to continue into the next generation, and it appears that there will be both on farm heirs and off-farm heirs, the issue of fairness is […]
After years of studying family businesses, we believe it’s possible to identify one just by walking into the lobby of its headquarters. Unlike many multinationals, most of these firms don’t have luxurious offices. As the CEO at one global family-controlled commodity group told us, “The easiest money to earn is the money we haven’t spent.” While countless corporations use stock grants and options to […]
Critical Skills You Should Learn That Pay Dividends Forever How to Get a Busy Person to Respond to Your Email Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and a Venture Capitalist To be honest, I just started reading this one today.
Well, last we talked, Utah House Bill 251 had passed the House of Representatives and had just been assigned to the Senate Business and Labor Committee. It’s purpose was protect employees from overly onerous non-compete agreements. To that end, it allowed such agreements if (1) they protected only “trade secrets,” “proprietary information or processe[s],” or the […]
Yesterday, I clicked on the Deseret News and discovered a story of intense interest to me, a story about the Utah business community’s reaction to House Bill 251. I’m a businessperson. I work with businesses in my law practice. I’m about as pro-business as they come. And yet, I support this bill. A little background–a […]
Plans to continue the [farming] firm may be frustrated by the lack of a competent management team. This situation may be avoided by taking steps, such as the following, to prepare for the future: Stressing the idea of a team approach to making decisions. Focusing on developing management skills. Emphasizing cross-training. Developing a system of routine communications. Implementing routine, nonthreatening […]
I listened to an interesting seminar yesterday titled “Estate Planning in Agriculture: Protecting a Way of Life” sponsored by WealthCounsel.com. Stan Miller and Robert Serio were the presenters. Serio covered the Farm Service Agency (FSA) Subsidy Programs and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Programs. He cautioned attorneys to be careful to not to do […]
“It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date.” Roger von Oech
“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” George S. Patton
A very interesting article about water at ProPublica.org. Essentially, the pieces asks whether Wall Street–the good guys on Wall Street, of course–will help us achieve this: [Hedge Fund manager] Disque Deane . . . supports the idea of setting aside what policy makers call “lifeline supplies” to guarantee households some minimal amount of water. […]