As Dad has told us many times, “the farm is going to you kids”.  What a blessing and a pain that statement has made.  Hopes, responsibilities, commitment, family, work, discouragement, are all words that pop into my head.  This has been a subject of recent discussion as all of us but Russ were at the Farm this last week. The Farm is a subject of discussion every year, and gaining any positive ground, well besides temporary excitement, has not happened. We will be having the same discussion 10 years from now if we don’t do something that is productive.  We need to have a plan, set goals, and meet our own expectations.  This year a few of us were making valid points and had great ideas. Some of the ideas did not have a chance to be heard though, over crying babies, card games, TV, private conversations, etc. Everyone gets excited about possibilities, and then the topic is never revisited throughout the year. We are all very busy in our private lives. I know we all want to do something but we never get a chance to discuss things but once a year, unless, we start NOW, right here.  

 

The house and duplex, sit on 5 acres with a mortgage. The front, or East rather 35 acres, is currently in all our names as I understand things, and includes the lake, bandstand, and barn. The back 40 or West 40 is in mom’s name. These 2 pieces of land have no mortgage attached to them, meaning they are paid off. The purpose of this email is to start a dialog that will continue into action leading us to a common goal for our future and our kid’s future as it involves the farm. We could move this to a blog or elsewhere if it is easier.  This will not be an easy subject to tackle. All of us have ideas and this has led to some frustration among us. Some of us have mentioned not even wanting to be a part of it as it has been too hard to find common ground. All of have dreams and visions for where our future will take us.

 

Speaking for me...this week at the farm was a great time. My kids enjoyed playing with their cousins which I believe is very important. Relationships of friendship and love with family have been strengthened and some new ones began (Calvin/Jaxon....so funny!). It is such a shame that with our young families and budgets we cannot do things like this more often. The Farm has always been a cherished memory of mine as I know it has been for you. Some of you are still living there are still benefiting from the properties unique majesty. I don't want to speak emotionally to you all, or pie in the sky either... as us Hinds have been known to do. I want to form a plan of action that will preserve the farm for Future posterity. I want it to be an exciting place to come to even if your not a Hinds.

 

A piece of advice that has helped me is that decisions are not well made when they are 100% emotional and on the flip side of that coin, they are not well made when they are 100 % logical. The important decisions we make are somewhere in the middle. Since we are a Family of Faith, we can add to the mixture of our decisions, faith and prayer. Think about this for a minute, Marriage, car purchase, having kids, career, home purchase, and now Farms future.  We all have emotion tied to the farm as it is a part of our past and present. We must make logical decisions knowing that some emotion will play a part of that decision. Will the Farm play a role in our future?

 

The Farm can go away! Dad has been juggling the plates he has chosen to juggle for many years. Dad has great intentions and dreams like all of us. He wants to provide a future for his posterity. The reality is that the plates are going to start falling, crashing into a million pieces if they are not picked up by us kids. Dad will not be able to continue at his pace forever.  The back 40 is over grown, the brush and trees are growing into the back of the dam, the dam washed out in the pond.  Make no mistake, this plate is about to shatter. These problems, if not addressed, will cause bigger financial losses for us later if not dealt with soon. The roots growing into the dam will cause it to burst; the brush will need a bulldozer instead of a simple mow to get it back to a hayfield.

 

 Do we want to catch the plates? If so, WE need to start figuring things out. What do we want the farm to be? How will it play a role in our family’s lives now, and in the years to come? Do we care if it is sold to a stranger? Do we care if it is given to one person in the family? These are all questions we need to ask ourselves and each other. Let me lay down some frame work for what needs to happen if we are all on board. On board meaning we all want to be a part of the farm and its future.

 

1.      WE need to make sure the land is in all our names to begin with. The Title will specify this. The Title will need to be held by a responsible party. A Title gives you the right to the land. The bank that holds your mortgage will hold the title until the land is paid for. Once it is all paid off the bank will send the title out to the title holder. In our case, all 7 kids are the title holders. Who will hold the title?

 

2.      WE need to get a lawyer. A Family wills trusts, estate, and possibly an LLC lawyer. This can get expensive. I spoke to a good friend of mine who was cop and is now a lawyer. I explained our situation the best I could. He told me that we should seek a consultation from a Kansas lawyer. Every state is different when it comes to this. Some consultations are free which is what we should seek. The reason we need to set this up is to cover all our bases. A disgruntled Sibling, spouse, or even a death in the family could make things very hard. Do we want to set it up as a business, a living trust, a combination of both? My friend said that community properties are very hard to work wilt. It might be best for Dad to set up the LLC and Estate then gift it over to us kids making one of us an Executor of the estate. The questions I have and want to ask an attorney is...

 

A. What happens to the property if I die?

B What happens to the property if I get divorced?

C What happens to the property if I get sued?

D Will my kids be owners of the property?

E What if it was run like a business or time share?

 

I'm sure you all can think of many other questions. Please write them down here. We will want to ask an attorney these questions.  These questions need to be answered. We all need to agree on the answers the best we can. I would take comfort knowing we all had our questions answered legally and they were "in paper" as the saying goes. Once this is done I will feel good about moving forward with "projects".

 

3.      Cost for the lawyer is unknown. I asked my friend to give a ball park figure on what things would cost. He said fees can range from 350 - 750 per hour. A flat rate may be an option as well. 7k-10k was a rough quote of what we might expect to pay for this. He said that you don't want cheap lawyer or one that doesn't have very much experience in the specialized area. What we are trying to do gang is very complex, and we don’t need some rookie bum! We are talking about a Kansas lawyer with an expertise in Will, Trusts, Estates, Business.  My friend can help me get a good lawyer and we won’t be wasting it on some ambulance chaser, or someone who just wants our money giving us subpar work.

 

4.      How do we pay for lawyer? Who will visit the lawyer? When will we do all this?

 

 

A.    Here is a suggestion: we all contribute monetarily to a monthly fund. If all 7 siblings contributed $80.00 a month, for 12 months, we would be close to paying this fee. We may be able to find a quality lawyer for less than the $7,000. Every sibling would come up with $1,000 in the next 12 months. This would give us 7k to get this “law business” settled.   When all of us converge at Mom and Dad’s next October, we could have this step done!!!! This could be one of the goals of the trip.  Can everyone afford for this?

Everyone needs to understand that the money you sink into the farm will not be coming back to you.  This is not an investment for monetary gain. It is money you will never see again. It is money that will be used to build something together.  It will be used to build something wonderful for our kids. In time we will see the efforts of our labor. I will never be able to afford some million dollar ranch on a farm by myself. It’s possible I could, but not very likely. If we do this together we could have something together that none of us thought possible to have on our own.

So basically number 1 is the title and 2, 3, &4 is all the legal stuff. I think this is a great goal for October 2013. The dam, back 40, and general maintenance of the farm may suffer for one more year, unless one of you boys living on or near the farm can do something about it. I want to hear all your ideas of improvements to the farm. Do we want cows, an orchard, lodge /clubhouse, tractor, 4 wheelers or barn? And what is our time frame for each project? How do we prioritize these projects? How do we pay for each project? Please post your thoughts, ideas, and post pictures. Let’s all have fun with this and get involved for the children.

 

I will volunteer my time to work out the legal side of this. I will involve all of you throughout this process. I will also volunteer to be the executor of the trust if everyone is ok with that. I promise to be fair and honest with you all.