HELENA — It is something many of us do not want to think about — a family member passing away without leaving a will behind and not knowing what to do with what is left.
Some Montana ranchers and farmers are getting together to have these conversations before they are left with questions to ease some of the possible fighting.
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The Carey family are sixth-generation ranchers in Montana's Boulder Valley.
"I don't think even when I graduated from high school," said Bo Carey, "I ever really thought about doing something else."
He and his wife, Kelly, work with Bo's family on the Devils Fence Ranch and Dunn Canyon Cattle Company.
Two of Bo's siblings have moved, so the team consists of his younger brother, his brother's wife, and his parents.
"I don't know if ranchers retire, I think they just step back when they're not able to do all the things, but they never fully retire," said Kelly.
The next steps for many generational ranches and farms can be a question mark.
This is why family planning and succession are annual topics of conversation at the Young Ag Couples Conference, which Kelly and Bo attended a couple of years back.
"The next generation is how we keep agriculture land in agriculture and production," said Walt Anseth, Ag finance officer for the Montana Department of Agriculture. "We're not farming houses; we're actually farming the land, so that's a big deal."
Attendees of the conference learned that communication is essential for successful succession.
One speaker at the conference, Professor Ron Hanson from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, says families should map out a plan with the following guidelines:
- Identify and adopt a legacy vision for the future
- Draft ideas into a plan
- Organize planning resources – like an accountant, attorney, or estate planning and wealth management specialist
- Clarify family member assumptions and expectations
- Take action and set deadlines
"That's something that I've taken home with me as far as having that conversation with my dad and my aunt and saying, 'You guys just got control of this when grandpa passed away'," said Colt Coffee, who attended the conference. "I think that there's a better way to handle it instead of just waiting until you can't have that conversation."
His wife, Chadaya, said, "Being able to look up to the previous generation, but also planning for the next generation. What legacy are we leaving? What does that look like, and what are we looking to build?"
Professor Hanson says, "The solution is for family members to start their planning process now and never later."
