A farm doesn’t pause for grief, and that’s exactly why a clear succession plan matters. We sit down with Old Mill partners Willem Puddy and Philip Kirkpatrick to unpack the human, legal, and financial knots around passing on a family farm—without tearing the business or the family apart. From the first awkward conversation to the final signatures, we walk through what actually works on real farms.

We start with the essentials: who owns what, what sits in the estate, and where the single points of failure hide. Wills, partnership agreements, and up‑to‑date records keep a shock from becoming a crisis. Then we tackle the emotional heart of succession: fairness versus equality, sweat equity, and what to do when one sibling has invested decades on the ground while others haven’t. You’ll hear practical ways to support non‑farming heirs—life insurance, staged gifting, and clear expectations—without forcing sales or starving the business of cash.

Income is the thread that runs through everything. Land values soared while farm returns lagged, creating retirees who hold assets for security and successors who can’t step in. We explore pensions to fund retirement outside the farm, term life cover to protect against the worst‑case, and sensible timelines to hand over control in stages. When divorce risk or control worries loom, trusts can help, but we’re candid about costs, complexity, and bank lending. The rule: let the family plan lead and use tax planning to support it, not drive it.

If inheritance tax changes keep you up at night, we share what to fix first: map ownership, review wills that waste allowances, quantify exposure, and document the business so someone else can find the stopcock, the passwords, and the supplier list. Build your farm’s “board table”—accountant, solicitor, financial planner, land agent—so advice aligns and decisions stick. Take bite‑size actions now and review yearly; strategy and succession should evolve together. If this helped you think differently about keeping your farm in family hands, follow the show, share this with someone who needs to hear it, and leave a quick review to help more UK dairy farmers find us.

Send us a text

For more information about our podcast visit www.chewinthecud.com/podcast or follow us on Instagram @chewinthecudpodcast. ChewintheCud Ltd is also on Facebook & LinkedIn. You can email us directly at [email protected]