Sally D. Babbitt, JD, CPC

Attorney, Mediator, and Certified Professional Coach

Babbitt Legal Group, PC
6005 W. Saint Joseph Hwy.
Suite 302
Lansing, MI 48917
517-507-3306
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March 12, 2015 By Sally Babbitt Leave a Comment

Farmers Face Unique Challenges in Estate and Succession Planning

Family Farms and Family Cottages

Planning for the succession of the family farm poses some unique challenges and should not be undertaken by those who are not familiar with the industry. While farmers are similar to many closely held business owners, there are some situations that make them unique. For example, farmers tend to have high “book value” because so much of their estate consists of land. However, they tend to have low cash value and lack liquidity. This situation used to cause a severe problem when a farmer died because the value of their estate would most often exceed the amount of the exemption or “unified credit” for federal estate taxes and the estate would struggle to find sufficient cash to pay the estate tax. However, this situation has been greatly mitigated now that the unified credit amount is over $5,000,000 per person and over $10,000,000 per ... [Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Articles & links Tagged With: estate planning, farmers, succession planning, trusts

March 12, 2015 By Sally Babbitt Leave a Comment

Blended Families Bring Special Issues to Estate Planning

Probate Mediation

Webster’s dictionary defines a blended family as a family that includes children of a previous marriage of one spouse or both. The first known use of the term blended family was in 1975. Blended families may consist of young couples with “his” and “hers” and “our” children or older couples with adult children from previous marriages and no children of the current marriage. The divorce rate in Michigan as recently as 2011 was 38%. This figure does not differentiate between first marriages and subsequent marriages and does not account for subsequent marriages of widows and widowers or marriages of those with children from previous relationships other than marriages. All told, the number of married couples who have children of any age that are not a product of the current marriage is a significant and expanding number. For the estate ... [Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Articles & links Tagged With: blended families, estate planning, trusts, wills

March 12, 2015 By Sally Babbitt Leave a Comment

Critical Cases to Watch: Township of Richmond v Rondigo, LLC

cases to watch

Macomb County Circuit Court File Nos. 2006-001054-CZ and 2006-004429-CZ Unpublished Court of Appeals Case No. 304444 While all of us enjoy our work and have a passion for the areas that we practice in, the fact is that we need to get the bills paid. The Rondigo case is not only an important case in protecting our ability to be paid for our services, but even more important in protecting farmers from nuisance cases that they usually could not afford to defend. At issue in this case is MCL 286.473b of the 1981 Right to Farm Act (the “act”). Section 3b of that statute reads: “In any nuisance action brought in which a farm or farm operation is alleged to be a nuisance, if the defendant farm or farm operation prevails, the farm or farm operation may recover from the plaintiff the actual amount of costs and expenses determined ... [Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Articles & links Tagged With: farmers, lawsuits, Litigation

March 9, 2015 By Sally Babbitt Leave a Comment

Agricultural Industry Brings Unique Needs for Estate Planning

Estate Planning for Agricultural

For individuals and families in the agricultural industry, planning for incapacity and succession to the next generation can pose some unique issues in estate planning. While many decisions and situations are universal to all people preparing an estate plan, those in the agricultural industry are uniquely situated and need to pay special attention to the fact that the feasibility and impact of their decisions are often very different than their non-agricultural friends and family. For instance, as much as we all want to ignore the fact, any of us could become disabled and unable to work at any time. For some people, that will force an early retirement. When you are in the agricultural industry, planning for incapacity is more than simply delegating another person to run to the bank for you or sign routine paperwork for you. Who will ... [Continue Reading]

Filed Under: Articles & links Tagged With: estate planning, farmers, Probate, trusts, wills

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Sally D. Babbitt, JD, CPC
Babbitt Legal Group, PC
6005 W. Saint Joseph Hwy.
Suite 302
Lansing, MI 48917
517-507-3306
sally@sallybabbittlaw.com
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