Women, Land and Legacy group holds learning session

Jan. 31--MAHASKA COUNTY -- A little bit of winter weather didn't phase a group of women -- farmers and landowners -- from learning about estate planning.

The Mahaska/Marion Women, Land and Legacy group started in 2017. It is a United States Department of Agriculture education and outreach program.

Local coordinator Nicole Baxter said a local team was developed to put on learning sessions for local women, landowners and farmers.

"We thought this was a good opportunity for women to get together and talk about topics that they want to learn about," she said. "So this session tonight, estate planning and succession planning, is one of the topics that a lot of our women wanted to learn about. We need to plan for our future no matter what."

Baxter said the topic was one that the women demonstrated high interest in. Women from Oskaloosa, New Sharon, Eddyville, Ottumwa, Lighton, Pella, Otley, Pleasantville and Knoxville attended the session.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Farm Management Specialist Charles Brown shared his expertise

"Tonight, we're going to talk a litle bit about estate planning, but what I'm going to talk about is those questions that probably you should be asking and mistakes to avoid," he said. "When you talk about estate planning, you can get pretty deep in the weeds."

One of the hardest things to get people to do, Brown said, is get the ball moving.

"That procrastination. We always say 'we always have tomorrow.' Sometimes tomorrow comes sooner than expected," he said. "So we need to get things moving."

Aside from procrastination, Brown discussed other pitfalls including:

--Failing to plan for someone to take over -- even for a brief time -- if you are unable to. Brown discussed having a Power of Attorney set up, and other means of decision making if the landowner is unable to make those decisions.

--A failure to communicate. Keeping secrets in terms of planning for the future should be avoided, Brown said.

--Another pitfall, Brown said, was failing to be fair and trying to treat everyone equally. Brown illustrated with stories of how siblings went to court because one sibling felt the other sibling -- who had been taking care of and working on the farm for years and helped create or improve the farm got a better deal in the inheritance. Brown also discussed putting a value on sweat equity.

The next Women, Land and Legacy session will be Feb. 25.

Managing Editor Angie Holland can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @OskyAngie.

___

(c)2019 The Oskaloosa Herald (Oskaloosa, Iowa)

Visit The Oskaloosa Herald (Oskaloosa, Iowa) at www.oskaloosa.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.