Understanding state’s estate tax farm deduction

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The difficulty in writing this article and trying to explain the requirements for qualifying for the Washington Estate Tax Farm Deduction as it applies to you is that virtually every farmer or rancher estate and their operation is different than their neighbor. Just being a farmer or rancher is not enough to meet the complex…

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Utilizing an LLC and the concept of discounting

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The intent of this article is to illustrate my opinions on how an LLC (a Limited Liability Company) can be utilized to accomplish leveraging valuations of assets through the concept of discounting. An example to start Let’s start with an example. Assume a husband and wife (H/W), a farm family in Washington, have a net…

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Do you understand your living trust?

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Lately, I’m seeing a number of new clients who have done their estate planning with some other law firm, and, as a part of their planning, a revocable grantor living trust has been utilized for the client. I’ll always ask the client (and of course I already know the answer!), “Why did you set up…

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The many uses of LLCs in business operations

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The author and his son, Corey, utilize hundreds of Limited Liability Companies, or LLCs, in their respective practices to help solve clients’ various needs. I break down such uses between: An LLC is often used as the business entity of choice vs. a corporation for its simplicity of forming. The use of either an LLC…

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What to watch for in energy leases

Many of our widespread agricultural base of clients have, over the last several years, been presented opportunities to participate in an energy lease, whether solar or wind. Many of these leases were entered into years ago, most especially wind energy leases, and now are producing very significant income streams for the landlord/family. Having read and…

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