Have your say: What was your biggest challenge with succession planning?

We’ve been talking about this the last number of years. I think every situation is different.
“Tax — it’s the cost of doing it. The value of the farm has gone so high in the last 10 or 15 years, when you put that value in there, the market value, then all of a sudden you’re in such a tax implication, how do you get this over to your son without him having to go out and borrow tons of dollars in order to pay off the tax man? The capital gains exemption is not covering what the capital gain is … it’s never kept up with inflation. That’s making it hard on farms to transition. “I’m 83 last Friday, and I took over from my dad, and back then we went through the same thing … but it seemed to be more simple back then (in 1961). We’ve been going to accountants to look at how we can get the farm to our son. There’s a way, but it’s going to cost you a lot of money.”