Knowing how to vet your farm succession team might be the most underrated skill in this whole process. Succession planning isn’t a solo sport. It takes a whole team, but not just any team. The people behind your plan will either make it easy or make it hard, so today I want to walk you through who belongs on that team, the red flags to watch for, and how to tell if your current advisors are succession-ready or just filling seats.
Think of your succession team like building a complex piece of equipment. It needs precision parts and the right tools. You’ll want an attorney, an accountant, a farm succession planner, a lender, a trust officer, and a life insurance agent. Each role matters, but what matters more is who’s sitting in the seat.
The short version:
- Every role matters, but the person in the seat matters more.
- Watch for advisors who build in job security or just check the box.
- Ask each one about their real agriculture experience.
- Someone has to coordinate the whole team, or the plan falls apart.
Listen to this episode: Ep. 5 – Vetting Your Team
Vetting Your Attorney
Everyone thinks attorneys are bloodsuckers, but they’re not all cut from the same cloth. A good one listens first, plans strategically, and writes clearly. I once saw an attorney charge $5,000 for a 100-page trust that read like a foreign language, a three-ring binder of fluff that guaranteed the family would have to hire another attorney just to interpret it after the grantor passed. That’s not a plan. That’s job security.
The other red flag is a cookie-cutter template with your name plugged in by a legal secretary for thousands of dollars. You can check any attorney’s license, discipline history, and credentials through your state bar association’s website. And if your gut says they’re not hearing you, move on.
Vetting Your Accountant and Lender
A good accountant helps you plan for taxes, not just report them. They should walk you through capital gains and estate taxes, plan for depreciation on equipment and land, and help with gifting strategies and entity structures like trusts or LLCs. If they’ve never worked with farm families and give vague advice, they may not be ready for your complexity. Trust me, taxes will be part of your legacy story whether you plan for them or not.
With your lender, the question is simple: are they fluent in agriculture or just fluent in fees? I once met a banker who came for a farm visit in khakis and a bank-branded Escalade, walked the minimum distance, took a photo, and ran back to the leather seats. That’s not relationship lending, that’s checking a box. Find a lender who asks questions and talks like someone who’s actually been to a field or a calving barn.
Vetting Your Trust Officer
This one is personal, because I’m a former trust officer. I know what it takes to serve farm families well, and I’ve watched the number of ag-literate trust officers shrink. I once heard of a trust officer who brought hand sanitizer and a backpack just to do a farm inspection, and another who didn’t know the difference between desiccate and defecate. As my husband joked, that one’s not exactly wrong, since we do spray some of that on the crop.
So ask directly: what’s your background in agriculture, and how far removed from it are you? How do you make trust distributions work in real life? Do you look at current cash rent values and the cost of inputs, or just federal statistics? When you inspect a field, can you see erosion or noxious weeds? If they can’t answer, how will they make decisions for your farm in your absence?
Not sure your current team is a good fit?
Before you build a plan, make sure you have the right people. My free resource library includes an intake worksheet to help you gauge your readiness and your advisors.
Vetting Your Life Insurance Agent
Life insurance is incredibly useful when it’s done right. It can fund buyouts, provide liquidity, and equalize distributions to non-farming heirs. I’ve seen it used so one child could buy land without selling commodities at the low, which gave both the farming and non-farming siblings an inheritance.
But watch whose interest the agent serves. I once had an agent call raging mad because we stopped paying into a policy inside an irrevocable life insurance trust. The client was paying more in premiums than the death benefit was worth and didn’t even need that policy, so we petitioned the court and the trust was revoked. You’d think we killed his dog, all because we were no longer profitable to him. That’s the difference between an agent who works for you and one who works for their commission. Ask: what’s this policy’s purpose in my plan, will it last through my life, and are there better alternatives?
Is Your Team Succession Ready?
Now look at your current advisors. Do they return your calls and emails? Do they speak your language, or talk to sound smarter? Do they understand your values, and do they work together as a team? If not, it may be time to reevaluate. You don’t just need a team that protects your assets. You need one that protects your story: the history behind the acres and the why behind the work. I’ve watched families argue over things that could have been fixed with better communication and clearer plans.
That’s where a farm succession planner comes in. I sit at the center of the team, making sure your attorney isn’t drafting something no one understands, your accountant is considering long-term taxes, your lender fits the financing to your timeline, your trust officer understands your ag assets, and your insurance agent is providing real liquidity. Someone has to see the big picture and connect the dots, and help you move from someday to action. Because the right team protects more than your stuff. They protect your legacy.
Need a coach at the center of your team?
Book a free discovery call with me and let’s make sure your attorney, accountant, lender, trust officer, and insurance agent are actually working toward the same plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should be on your farm succession team?
Six roles: an attorney to draft sound documents, an accountant for tax strategy, a farm succession planner to coordinate everyone, a lender for financing, a trust officer to manage and distribute assets, and a life insurance agent to fill financial gaps. The role matters, but the person in the seat matters more.
What are the red flags when choosing a farm attorney?
A padded, unreadable document built for job security, like the $5,000 100-page trust I saw that the family had to hire someone else to interpret. Also cookie-cutter templates plugged in by a secretary. Check the state bar for license and discipline, and move on if your gut says they aren’t listening.
How do you know if a trust officer understands agriculture?
Ask about their real ag background and how they’d make decisions for your farm without you. A good one knows current cash rent values, input costs, and can read a field for erosion or weeds. If they bring hand sanitizer to a farm inspection, that tells you something too.
What questions should you ask a life insurance agent?
What’s the purpose of this policy in my plan, will it last through the end of my life, and are there better alternatives? Make sure they’re looking at your entire operation, not their commission. I’ve revoked a trust holding a policy that cost more in premiums than it was worth.
