The Virginia Cooperative Extension - Northumberland County has announced on Facebook two Generation NEXT Land Transition program sessions on March 1. The session in Warsaw is 9:00 am - Noon and the Saluda session is 6:00 - 9:00 pm. The fee is $25/family. Register online.
At the sessions, landowners will learn about estate planning and its role in passing land and other assets from one generation to the next. Workshop leaders will provide free legal guidance and landowner success estate planning stories. Speakers include legal and financial experts experienced in estate planning as well as natural resource professionals and landowners.
The value of estate planning and family engagement regarding farmland and forests
Virginia Cooperative Extension explains the value of thinking about and taking concrete actions to plan for the future in Legacy Planning for Forest Landowners. VCE makes the case for planning, writing:
Forests and farmland are valued for many reasons such as wildlife, privacy, recreation, timber, hunting, and scenery. Unfortunately, these rural lands are most vulnerable to land use change (being converted to some other land use) during intergenerational transfer. Without proper planning, and without strong ties to the land, many heirs are compelled by high property values, taxes or family discord to sell the land. This is a major force behind the statewide loss of nearly 300,000 forested acres since the 1970s. (emphasis added)
Legacy planning provides landowners with a path to help them keep their land intact, in forest, and in family ownership. Legacy planning entails traditional estate planning (wills, trusts, etc.) along with engaging multiple generations in decision-making, management, work and play to build stronger ties with the land and within the family. A common barrier for landowners to legacy planning is accessing good planning tools and confidence in knowing where to start.
The Richmond Fed puts a finer point on the issue: Families which don't do estate planning have less wealth transfer than families which do. This is particularly the case the with southern blacks. Two Fed staffers write in Whose Land Is It? Heirs’ Property and Its Role in Generational Land Retention,
Property loss has contributed to creating and widening the wealth gaps that have existed in our nation since its inception. Heirs’ property has been one definable way that this loss — in some cases theft — has occurred. For example, scholars who have studied heirs’ property have argued that it has contributed to the racial wealth gap we experience today. In the Fifth District, and in much of the South, this problem of heirs’ property has resulted in substantial loss of both wealth and land and has hampered economic opportunity for many families. (emphasis added)