Today on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, Peggy Coffeen interviews attorney Will McKinley of Menn Law in a three-part follow-up to the Farm Forward conference, focusing on why farm transitions fail and how to prevent it. McKinley cites two primary failure causes: economic infeasibility and psychology/communication breakdowns, including control issues and lack of confidence in successors; he shares examples where debt forced likely land sales and where strict post-death “guardrails” led a son to leave and the dairy to shut down.

He emphasizes earlier planning, strong financial advisors, and tools like trusts with independent trustees. Discussing non-family key employees, he warns ownership success is about 50/50, urges transparency, cautions against rushed promises and mingling assets like cattle or equipment, and suggests alternatives such as higher compensation or limited real-estate partnerships.

Make sure to tune in tomorrow and Thursday for parts two and three.

Contact Will McKinley at Menn Law:
[email protected]
(920) 731-6631
https://mennlaw.com/

Do you have a question on succession and farm transition you would like to hear Will answer on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast? Send your questions to [email protected]

00:00 Why Transitions Fail

02:16 Two Failure Causes

02:40 Debt And Taxes Trap

03:52 Psychology And Control

08:08 Preventing Financial Failure

13:14 Trusts And Guardrails

16:18 Non-Family Partners

25:50 Avoiding Messy Entanglements