1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Welcome, everyone, to Buying Local. 2 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:05,400 I'm your host Mike Nelson with Five Towers Media, joined today 3 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:10,000 by Megan Harris Perot. And I say that because if you 4 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:12,160 listen to the show, you always know I mess up everyone's name. 5 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:16,000 And we just had a whole conversation about the etymology 6 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,600 of Megan's last name. So Megan, welcome to the show. 7 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,240 Thank you for joining us from the Harris Perot Law Firm. 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:25,840 How are you? Thank you, Mike. 9 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,800 Great. Yep, you got the last name 10 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:28,920 Harris. I got, I got. 11 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:32,680 It I try to make fun of myself as much as as much as possible. 12 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,160 Megan. So, so Megan, just to kind of 13 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:40,280 educate the listeners a little bit on who you are and and what 14 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,160 you do at your law firm. Why don't you kind of give us 15 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:46,960 the the rundown here about who is Megan Harris Peril? 16 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,440 Great. I, I run a, a law firm. 17 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,240 I'm an attorney and manage a law firm. 18 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,120 There is a team of eight of us, 2 attorneys right now and then a 19 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,400 lot of other people on our team that help get and keep things 20 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,360 moving. We're located in Saratoga 21 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:11,240 Springs, NY and we do estate planning, which is like wills 22 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:15,720 and trusts, healthcare proxies, powers of attorney, a state 23 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:22,280 settlement, which is the probate of a will and trust settlement. 24 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:28,000 And then something called elder law, which is basically estate 25 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:34,880 planning, Medicaid planning for retiring individuals or retired 26 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:42,720 individuals and included with that Medicaid applications and 27 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:48,120 then business law. So business formations or if a 28 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,960 partner is exiting a business, that sort of thing. 29 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:56,840 And we help all sorts of individuals and families, but we 30 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:01,920 also have a niche of helping farmers and agricultural 31 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,040 businesses. Oh, nice. 32 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,759 I know you and I obviously we, we have had coffee before and 33 00:02:08,759 --> 00:02:11,600 talked about the, the farmer connection, which of course I'm 34 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:18,640 very, I'm all about that right close to home for me, what it 35 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:22,080 sounds like there's like a wide breadth of services that you 36 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:23,520 offer like that sounds like a lot. 37 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:28,880 Is that like for two attorneys and and you know, I would say a 38 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:31,520 large support staff, right? Yeah. 39 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:37,040 Well, they all, all of these same things kind of overlap and 40 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:41,480 we, we really focus on helping people be planned and prepared 41 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:46,720 for emergencies. I think one of our core values 42 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,560 is really caring and helping. And I kind of think of it as, 43 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,400 you know, not every family has someone in the family that is 44 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,520 good at the paperwork side of things or the administrative 45 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:04,920 side of things. So we kind of get to be that 46 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:11,520 person for a lot of our clients. And while it does seem like a 47 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:15,840 lot of things, a lot of them really overlap, especially when 48 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,520 you're talking about helping a farm client. 49 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:25,720 Because then you have you have personal estate planning, like 50 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:30,440 anyone has to deal with power of attorney, healthcare proxy, will 51 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,880 and maybe a trust. But you also have a business 52 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:38,880 there, a farm that you want to succession plan around and land 53 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,840 that you want to protect. So all of it kind of combines 54 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,920 together really well. What? 55 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,280 Well, how long you been practicing? 56 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,960 Well, that's a good question. So I started the firm in my 57 00:03:54,960 --> 00:04:00,480 basement in Saratoga County 10 years ago and I'm grateful to 58 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:02,840 say it. It just took a year or two to 59 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,120 move out of the basement and then kind of organically grew 60 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:12,520 out of different office spaces. So now we're, we're in a 61 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:16,079 comfortable space for our, our team of, of eight. 62 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:22,320 And but be prior to that, I worked at a really large global 63 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:27,920 law firm, did a lot of real estate and the exposure to some 64 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,520 estates and trust planning for a few years. 65 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,560 And before that I worked in not for profits. 66 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:40,120 So I really came at law with a caring sort of personality type. 67 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:45,280 And I'm fortunate to have found a field within law that, you 68 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:49,920 know, we do get to care for our clients and their needs. 69 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,480 Well, and I mean so well, first of all, big milestone 10 years, 70 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:55,960 right? Thank you. 71 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:58,160 Yeah. Are you throwing a big pardon? 72 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,400 I, I don't, we haven't quite figured that out yet. 73 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:07,680 It's, it'll be this July. That will be 10 years and it's 74 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:09,800 quite amazing. You know you, I don't. 75 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:15,160 I would say the Gray hairs are helping me feel my age lately. 76 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,640 But you know, often times I think we think of ourselves as 77 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,240 younger. So to think of 10 years having 78 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:24,760 gone by since I started the firm, it's pretty exciting. 79 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,960 Yeah, well, it is exciting. And for the record, we don't 80 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,120 call them Gray hairs anymore. We call them wisdom highlights. 81 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:37,080 Oh, yes, I actually at home I always call them my wise hairs. 82 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,640 So I I have a similar name for them, yeah. 83 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:45,280 Yeah, they they just seem to keep creeping in, you know, What 84 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:48,160 are you gonna do? Yeah, but yeah. 85 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,320 And I think COVID made that cool. 86 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:55,240 So my I have two children and they tell me not to dye my hair 87 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:57,840 because it's it's cool. It's cool. 88 00:05:58,080 --> 00:05:59,400 It's cool. Yeah. 89 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:05,040 I, I feel like, what's her name? Like Tulsi Gabbard's got that, 90 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:09,200 that Gray thing going on that she's really been rocking here. 91 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:11,240 It's and it's just making it cool, you know? 92 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:16,160 Yeah, it's acceptable. It's it's less work so it's good 93 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,040 all time. So you have kids, so you're. 94 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,160 Yes. Working mom running a law firm, 95 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:26,720 raising kids. Right, working mom, 2 teenage 96 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,640 daughters, which, which, when I tell my clients that they're 97 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,240 like, I'm sorry. And, and it is, I love my 98 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,200 children. Raising teenage girls is very 99 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:40,920 difficult. And, and I'll say I have a 100 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:47,360 terrific, A terrific husband and he definitely played a part in 101 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,400 the growth of this law firm and I wouldn't have been able to do 102 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:54,360 it without him. And I, I do think that's 103 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,920 something that's sometimes missing about the stories of 104 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,680 small business is the spouse and, and how a lot of times a 105 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:09,800 spouse or a partner, you know, can really help help their 106 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:15,240 spouse or partner, you know, grow right and, and help be the, 107 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,680 the safety net or help pick up the kids and things like that. 108 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,400 So I'm very grateful. Yeah, yeah. 109 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,200 And, and I'm sure that you, you know, from the time in your 110 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,080 basement to even now, there's a lot of late nights on laptops 111 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,120 sitting on the couch trying to catch up on things and keep it 112 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,280 going. And business owners, you know, 113 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,800 you don't ever get to like punch out and go home, so to speak, 114 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:38,520 right? Like you're always bringing your 115 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:40,360 business with you no matter where you are and what you're 116 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,800 doing, so. Having fun, absolutely. 117 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,720 I would say that that's something for every small 118 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,280 business owner knows and and anyone thinking about starting a 119 00:07:51,280 --> 00:07:55,200 business should know that it's a never ending job. 120 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:59,920 But I have, I've learned a lot, I think especially in the past 121 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:07,200 few years about delegating. And our team is really great and 122 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,480 supportive and it, it takes a while to kind of learn what you 123 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:14,880 can delegate and pass off and having that trust and, and your 124 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:19,600 team to take care of things. But we have we have a great team 125 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:21,920 right now and things are flowing really nicely. 126 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:24,480 Yeah, yeah. And delegation is definitely a 127 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:28,920 skill, one that I'm not great at but trying learning. 128 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:35,440 More Yeah, well, one one thing about law is it's a practice. 129 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,720 And when you think about it, a lot of things are a practice. 130 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:44,600 So I know that your significant other is into yoga, right. 131 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,840 And the practice of yoga, which is something I'm interested in 132 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:50,720 too and that's that's a practice. 133 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:54,280 So is law. And I think small business, any 134 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,280 of it is a practice. So we just show up every day and 135 00:08:57,280 --> 00:08:59,920 do our best and just keep practicing. 136 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:05,360 Keep. Practicing this for sure lots, 137 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:09,240 lots and lots of practice. Now your world. 138 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:13,960 I like, I know a little bit about what you do in estate 139 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:18,040 planning and trust and that you know, but again, like to say 140 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:20,480 that I know a little bit it really, I mean, I know a little 141 00:09:20,480 --> 00:09:23,120 bit, right. And because it's just a 142 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:28,560 staggering like the amount of stuff that is involved in with 143 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:31,560 the laws, the rules, the regulations and all the things 144 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:34,920 that go into having a state plan, making sure it's set up 145 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:37,960 properly, making sure that you're following the laws and 146 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,360 dotting the I and cross it. I mean, it's it's absolutely 147 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,040 staggering. Like, how do you, how do you 148 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:50,320 stay on top of all that? Well, I mean learning things 149 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:55,080 over time and it improving as we go definitely happens. 150 00:09:55,640 --> 00:10:00,400 We're also very active in the New York State Bar Association. 151 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:06,720 So we tried to keep up with changes and there certainly have 152 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:09,880 been a lot of changes in the law over the last few years. 153 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,360 And then, you know, and then we're all waking up to, in the 154 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,840 newspaper to things changing all over the place. 155 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:22,640 So, so there, there are a lot of things that change And, and then 156 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:27,360 also just things you, you see similarities between fact 157 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,520 patterns with clients over time and, and you kind of learn some 158 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:35,720 different techniques or different options for people. 159 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,280 And, and we're big on options too, 'cause we don't, there 160 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,520 isn't really, there's not typically A1, there's not A1 161 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:47,320 size fits all estate plan that you can shove at someone and 162 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:49,960 say, here's what you need. You know, there's, there's 163 00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:54,240 facts, specific situations and different goals. 164 00:10:54,880 --> 00:11:00,880 So it, it's really kind of fun. I think it's fun because we, we 165 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:07,080 kind of, we get to know the facts of what it, what are the 166 00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:12,520 goals and then apply this set of rules essentially that. 167 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,640 And you know, what are the changes in the rules? 168 00:11:16,680 --> 00:11:20,960 And a big thing is, well, what if the rules change and what if 169 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:25,880 the facts change? So I often describe us as worst 170 00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:30,680 case scenario planners. And I apologize to clients when 171 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:35,120 they come in because sometimes I'm going to bring up, you know, 172 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,840 what if, what if this happens to a family member? 173 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:45,760 What if that happens? And the purpose is not to, you 174 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,680 know, think through all of this scary stuff to be scared. 175 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:56,200 But if we create a plan and it's on paper, then our hopes are 176 00:11:56,200 --> 00:12:01,520 that in the end, the client will feel the relief that no matter 177 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:07,480 what emergency situation could happen, there's a plan in place 178 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:12,760 for them and for their family really to handle anything. 179 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,680 So I mean, that's really why we do it. 180 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:22,400 And it's, it's fun to kind of put the the plan in place and, 181 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:28,120 and see people at ease, although people respond to this kind of 182 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,120 planning differently and we know that too. 183 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:32,080 Yeah. Yeah, I know. 184 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:34,640 So we were talking a little bit before we started recording the 185 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:38,600 show and you know, you had mentioned something that was 186 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,120 interesting to me because I have a, a kid in college right now. 187 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,480 And you were mentioning something about which I think a 188 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,480 lot of people don't really know about with kids going away to 189 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:51,880 college and things that you want to put in place for when that 190 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:53,520 happens. And I know we want to get into 191 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:55,440 the farming, but I just want to ask this question too. 192 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:57,880 I can you tell me a little bit more about that and and for our 193 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,320 listeners? Absolutely. 194 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:04,920 So when kids are getting ready to go to college or they're 195 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,160 graduating from high school and, and getting into their first 196 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,920 job, I think, you know, we're all so excited about graduation 197 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,160 on the next chapter. But I think from a legal 198 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:20,720 standpoint, people don't always think about the fact that my 199 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:26,840 child is now legally an adult means that I have a little less 200 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:33,960 like supervisory control or ability to automatically help in 201 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:41,360 an emergency situation. So we, we offer a college 202 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,400 preparedness package, which is a healthcare proxy and power of 203 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:52,160 attorney and try to encourage young people, you know, entering 204 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:58,200 adulthood, turning 18 to come in and have a consultation or by 205 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:03,400 teams have a consultation. We discuss the healthcare proxy 206 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:07,960 and power of attorney and help them put those into place. 207 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:12,760 Because, you know, anyone can have a car accident, just, you 208 00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,960 know, these an emergency can happen to anyone. 209 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,520 So as soon as you're 18, it's important to have those 210 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,360 documents in place. An 18 year old may not 211 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:27,520 necessarily need a will yet because maybe they don't have 212 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:30,240 assets that are significant enough for that. 213 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,360 If they have a bank account, there are, you know, 214 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,320 recommendations we can make for that. 215 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,760 But a healthcare proxy and power of attorney is a good idea for, 216 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:47,040 for everyone because it empowers that individual to, to, to name 217 00:14:47,040 --> 00:14:50,560 the people that they would want to be in charge of your their 218 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,960 healthcare decisions and in charge of their money, bill 219 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:59,000 paying, things like signing off on their taxes, all of those 220 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:02,600 sorts of things if they couldn't handle those things themselves. 221 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,280 Yeah. Which again, is not really 222 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,760 something that you think about, you know, like whether or not I 223 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:12,120 can call the hospital and get an update on, on my daughter or 224 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:12,920 something. Where to help? 225 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,800 It's not really like you said, you're so focused on graduation 226 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:18,520 and getting them off to that first semester. 227 00:15:18,520 --> 00:15:22,760 It's not really something. Yeah, for me, I and I think it's 228 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:27,840 funny, I, I didn't go into this field thinking about this. 229 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:32,320 But now that I'm in this field, looking back, I realized that, 230 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,800 oh, this is, this makes so much sense that I'm helping people 231 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:41,280 through this because my older sister had a car accident at the 232 00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:45,760 age of 16 and has a traumatic brain injury. 233 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:51,120 So she's alive, but with a brain injury and a conservator just 234 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:57,280 like the Britney Spears had, you know, and we don't call them 235 00:15:57,280 --> 00:15:59,240 that in New York. We call them a guardian. 236 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:06,280 But it's this the same thing And but you know, she didn't quite 237 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:10,920 make it to 18, but I saw with her that a car accident can just 238 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:14,880 change her life, right? So and that can happen to any of 239 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,440 us. So just having simple documents 240 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:21,720 in place for all of your family members can make things easier. 241 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,720 Yeah, and hard to know what you need until you need it, right? 242 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:29,360 Right, right. So it's like, you know, we 243 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,320 sometimes we have clients, but I'm like, you know, you're going 244 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,960 to pass away, right? Like occasionally when you're 245 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,400 the one who thinks they're going to live forever. 246 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,840 But you know, we all know that that's going to happen. 247 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,600 We we don't know if, you know, incapacity is going to happen 248 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:49,560 and someone's going to need to manage things during, during our 249 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:52,040 lifetime. But it's still, I think if it 250 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:56,200 kind of like having the umbrella and then maybe the rainy day 251 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,840 will never happen because you have it in place. 252 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:03,440 But if it if it does happen, you know, you have the right people 253 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:07,359 to take care of you. And I think that's so important 254 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,200 for us to designate those people for ourselves. 255 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,200 Yeah, yeah. But better you get to make the 256 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:16,359 choice than someone making the choice for you about who gets to 257 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:19,319 make those decisions. Absolutely, yeah. 258 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,000 So I know we want to talk about farm stuff. 259 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:23,319 Yes. Yeah. 260 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:29,280 So and you were kind enough to connect me to a few farmers in 261 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:30,480 the area, which I'm very grateful. 262 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,960 Thank you. So why don't just, you know, 263 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,240 just tell us a little bit about how you work with farms 264 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,640 specifically? Yeah. 265 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,720 So actually, I'll tell you first about why and then. 266 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:46,920 And then? And then the how 'cause I think 267 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:54,600 the why is kind of fun. So I, when I left Big Law and 268 00:17:55,360 --> 00:18:01,080 moved to, moved to this area, I moved for my husband had a 269 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:06,160 promotion opportunity and, and we just loved the area and 270 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,720 thought, yeah, we want to spend the rest of our lives, our lives 271 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:15,240 here. And we spend a lot of time in 272 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,720 Essex County, which is really which is rural part of it, you 273 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,920 know, in the Adirondack Park. And then there are a lot of 274 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,400 small farms. And I was kind of looking around 275 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:33,240 knowing I wanted to do estate planning, but I think from my 276 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:38,400 also from my not-for-profit background, also kind of wanted 277 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:40,160 to think about, well, who do I want to help? 278 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:48,080 And from especially from Essex farm up in in the town of Essex, 279 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,040 they were kind of bringing in a lot of young farmers training 280 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:56,480 them. And then you saw a lot of this 281 00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,960 was around 10 years ago, a pop up of a whole bunch of little 282 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:05,200 farms in the area. And, and actually some like 283 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:09,120 cross circulation with Saratoga County also, which, which is 284 00:19:09,120 --> 00:19:15,680 kind of fun to see. But so kind of knowing that that 285 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:21,120 there was this exciting new, new populate, new population of 286 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,600 young and beginning farmers kind of getting going. 287 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:30,640 That really inspired me to say, what can I, what can I do to 288 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:34,480 help this population like I, I know they need planning to what 289 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:39,440 do they need? So I went to every farm 290 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,400 conference in the area that that I could find out about. 291 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,840 I talked to people who do I need to speak with, you know, did 292 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:48,640 some good old fashioned networking. 293 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:54,640 And I remember speaking with David Haight of American 294 00:19:54,640 --> 00:20:00,480 Farmland Trust and among many others. 295 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:06,480 And I found a program called LEAD New York, which is out of 296 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:09,760 Cornell. And it's a two year program for 297 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:17,360 developing leaders from various professions to help advance 298 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:21,400 agriculture in New York State. And I was lucky they picked me 299 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,520 to be a member of their their group. 300 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:30,360 And it's a two year commitment. We we were a group of people 301 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:33,360 that got together at different places in New York State for 302 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:39,040 leadership training and got to tour farms and talk about issues 303 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:40,840 with agriculture in New York State. 304 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:46,120 And then the second year we went to DC and learned about federal 305 00:20:46,120 --> 00:20:53,400 sector and we also went to Canada and culminated in a trip 306 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,840 to Vietnam and the Philippines to look at agriculture 307 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:02,240 internationally. So that was a really great 308 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:07,680 connector for me and eye opener to different types of 309 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,040 agricultural businesses in New York State. 310 00:21:11,120 --> 00:21:17,480 Most of our clients today are still small farm clients and 311 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,280 they and we help them with the same sorts of things that we 312 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:29,600 help other small businesses except that we we are aware of 313 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:33,680 like different programs for farmers and some different tax 314 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:39,600 advantages and things like that. So we have a good network of 315 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,840 like tax advisors that typically work with farmers that we 316 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:52,320 commonly work with and other organizations that help farmers 317 00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:59,720 with technical assistance, meaning including, although I'm, 318 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,480 I'm not sure if the funding is in jeopardy, but but some of 319 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:08,000 these organizations would receive funding to help pay for 320 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,520 our services and business consultant services and things 321 00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,000 like that. So one of those organizations is 322 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,680 Hudson Valley Agri Business Development Corporation. 323 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:25,720 And so they serve mostly Hudson Valley, but some some they've 324 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,800 assisted with some clients like up in Washington County, 325 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:36,680 Rensselaer. And so we do farm succession 326 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,600 planning. But it it that kind of it 327 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,200 depends on the facts and the goals like with anyone else. 328 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:49,960 So sometimes the farmers don't have healthcare proxy, power of 329 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:55,920 attorney, a will or a trust in place and and they may not know 330 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:00,480 where they want the farm to ultimately go yet. 331 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,560 Maybe they are thinking of selling or they're not sure 332 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:06,640 which child is going to take over. 333 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,440 So sometimes it's just having the basic documents that 334 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:18,600 everyone else has in place, in place, but kind of being aware 335 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:23,720 of the special assets or circumstances they have or, and, 336 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,840 and having some of the conversations like So what 337 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:30,040 happens to the cows if you just pass, if you pass away tomorrow, 338 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:31,880 you know? That was going to be one of my 339 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:34,720 questions, Like what? Yeah, it kind of tricky with all 340 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:39,920 the different things that are on farms or the situations of how 341 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,160 farms are set up. Like I know there's a lot of 342 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,720 farms that don't even own some more all of the land that 343 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:47,920 they're farming on, they're leasing it and they're long term 344 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,680 leasing. What happens with all of that? 345 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,920 And there's assets, but there's also liabilities and, and 346 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,360 figuring out that whole plan, I'd imagine it's staggering. 347 00:23:57,360 --> 00:24:03,160 Yeah, it's it often times takes a lot more time than than other 348 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:09,920 as other plans. Yeah, especially like I can 349 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:14,040 think of one client where there are these great ideas of where 350 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:17,720 everything's gonna go, but there are loans and, and how are the 351 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:20,760 loans gonna get paid off? And if the money's going to 352 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:25,120 these people, but you're leaving the assets that that are, you 353 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,560 know, essentially leaned to these other people, like trying 354 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,320 to figure out, yeah, they're really they're. 355 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:34,360 Really inheriting liens at that point. 356 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,880 Right, right. So we, we need some liquidity, 357 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,680 like is there a life insurance policy or do we want to rethink 358 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:46,480 where the assets go? So, you know, all that, all that 359 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,160 stuff that that might scare people from doing anything. 360 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,920 I say like bring us the facts, you know, and, and let us let us 361 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,720 play with it. And it reminds me of one of my 362 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:02,040 law school professors who just always said it depends. 363 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,680 Like, that's the famous legal answer. 364 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:06,800 You asked the question. It depends. 365 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,040 What are the facts? Yeah. 366 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:17,160 Yeah, it's I So do you see a lot of, well, I guess I would 367 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,920 imagine that like when you're sitting down with someone, you 368 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,240 really have to like you said, like develop like what's the 369 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:27,560 overall grand plan of things? Do do you find that you end up 370 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:32,840 having to either make a lot of recommendations that are outside 371 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:36,720 of your legal scope or bring in experts to help, like whether 372 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,200 it's wealth managers or financial people that kind of 373 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,480 help them navigate that? Like, what does that look like 374 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,640 when you're putting that plan together with them? 375 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:55,600 It I wanted to say it depends, but but for farmers commonly we 376 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:03,520 might recommend, oh, that one resource is New York farm net. 377 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:11,280 So New York farm net was that that was created to because 378 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,480 there was acknowledgement that farmers would had, I think 379 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,240 probably still do have a high suicide rate. 380 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:23,360 It's farmers take it exceptionally personally that 381 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:25,880 their job is to, you know, feed us. 382 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,040 You know, when you think about it, we all eat every, every 383 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,320 single day, at least three meals a day. 384 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,440 And farmers have that very important job of they're 385 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:40,240 producing, you know, food in some form or fashion to end up 386 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:44,720 on someone's table. So if, if they have a bad year 387 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:51,240 and if, if finances are dire like also it could put their 388 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:54,440 family farm at risk like there, there's a lot of pressure for 389 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:59,280 farmers. So New York Farm Net is a free 390 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:04,200 service for farmers that is a support for that. 391 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,760 Any farmer can can call and see if they can provide assistance, 392 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:12,680 but they will provide business consultant services and also 393 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:18,400 social work services. So that is a resource that a lot 394 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,640 of our our farmer clients might take advantage of, especially 395 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,120 when they're thinking about succession planning or if 396 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:28,840 there's any tension in the family between different 397 00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:35,120 generations. I early on in the firm, I went 398 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:39,040 through a mediation training, which was really great and I did 399 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:44,360 a little bit of mediation for there's another group called the 400 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:48,720 New York State Agricultural Mediation Program. 401 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,640 And that that's another service where it, it's hopefully is 402 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:59,640 still grant funded and can provide free mediation for 403 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:05,880 farmers in a dispute. But I quickly learned, you know, 404 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:10,080 people didn't want to pay an attorney to be a mediator and 405 00:28:10,120 --> 00:28:15,120 it's better to have the one hat and to pull in mediation 406 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:21,280 services or advise that that clients go seek those when when 407 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:23,720 warranted. And then there are business 408 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:28,600 consultants. Let's see, Farm Credit E has 409 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:33,200 some great business consultants. You pay for those services. 410 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:39,600 You, you have very skilled people assisting you and, and 411 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:44,600 then farmers have financial advisors, you know, often times 412 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:49,240 just like like any of us and they can come from all sorts of 413 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,400 places, although there are some that typically work more with 414 00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:57,520 farmers than others. But a big difference that is, 415 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:03,280 you know, farmers are really investing in land and, and what 416 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:09,440 they need for the farm, right? So, so that is protecting that 417 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:16,520 land sometimes from Medicaid, from a Medicaid lien potentially 418 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,720 is something that we're sometimes looking at for the 419 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:24,600 smaller farms also. Yeah, it's, well, yeah. 420 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,040 I mean, think about farms. Think about like farm equipment, 421 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:30,080 the land. But like farm equipment is 422 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:32,360 ridiculous. And you get with you, you know, 423 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,040 even small farmers have equipment out there. 424 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:37,280 They've probably got hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not 425 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:38,720 more. If they're a large, you know, if 426 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,040 they're using the large, if they're in large tracts of land, 427 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,320 they could have $1,000,000 John Deere tractor out there. 428 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:44,760 You know it's. Right. 429 00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:45,800 Yeah. Wild. 430 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:49,720 And then what do you do with that stuff, making sure it's 431 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:51,240 going somewhere? Yeah. 432 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,360 Well, if, if you have that a lot of that expensive equipment, 433 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:58,840 then you, you wanna, you wanna structure your business so it's 434 00:29:58,840 --> 00:30:03,920 gonna survive and you're hoping to pass it on to next generation 435 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:11,560 or another farmer or bring up a worker and hope that they start 436 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,720 to take over. So it really varies for people, 437 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,840 but it is exciting like different kinds of assets and 438 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,240 what I like sometimes for the farmers. 439 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,480 So we we have a basic questionnaire, but they usually 440 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,240 have a schedule from their tax return with a list of all their 441 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:35,040 equipment and that's kind of fun to look through sometimes. 442 00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,600 You know, as you're talking, I was wondering, like, to me, my 443 00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,680 experience with farmers is most farmers are usually long term 444 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:48,960 planners and you know, 'cause they always have to be looking 445 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,000 at next season, 2 season, 3 seasons, depending on what 446 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:55,760 they're growing or raising, if they're on the livestock side of 447 00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:57,600 things. But you're always looking down 448 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,080 the road. And so I'm just wondering, like, 449 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:06,000 does that automatically make farmers an easier client when 450 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,560 dealing with this kind of stuff? It depends. 451 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,320 It depends. On the farmer. 452 00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:14,840 It depends, you know, it's it, it's funny. 453 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:20,520 I'll just say from a, from a business perspective, we were 454 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:22,240 talking about delegating earlier. 455 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:27,800 Like another good business tip is having a process, right? 456 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:33,120 And I, I know like our business has improved. 457 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:37,960 We're not perfect, we've made mistakes and, but a lot of times 458 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:43,360 mistakes can be reduced by having a process and a 459 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,640 consistent process that you, you go through. 460 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:51,400 And I, I laugh sometimes because we, you know, we have weekly 461 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:56,240 meetings and we check in on the issues and was it a process 462 00:31:56,240 --> 00:32:00,840 problem like what happened? And sometimes I have to remind 463 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:06,400 myself like we, our team can have the greatest process, but 464 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:10,040 we are constantly engaging with different people all the time. 465 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:15,440 You know, each client is so different and one is fine on the 466 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,960 computer, for example, and another like doesn't touch them. 467 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:24,080 And the farmers are the same way, you know, So you, you have 468 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:29,360 to meet people where they are and have adaptations for your 469 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:34,080 process at, at the ready to try to make things easier for people 470 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,440 so that it's not so intimidating. 471 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,520 Yeah, I always call my team that because we're the same way. 472 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,400 We're a small business, but we we try very hard to have 473 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,280 processes in for everything that we do so that it's consistent 474 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,680 and repeatable and easier for new people to learn, but also 475 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,000 better for us to execute in the end, better for our clients. 476 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:56,760 And you know, to your point, right, like what I say is like 477 00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,080 clients are always going to try to pull us out of our process, 478 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,320 not because they're trying to do something nefarious. 479 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:04,520 It's just they just they don't know what our processes are. 480 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,800 And they have a view in their mind of what they want to do. 481 00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:09,760 And that's going to pull us out of our process. 482 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,600 And our job becomes to get them back into that process at the 483 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,600 earliest possible time. Right. 484 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:18,800 So it's the to you like like you said, yeah. 485 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,200 They are. Don't make it confrontational. 486 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,280 Guide them gently and get them back into the process and try to 487 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:28,400 nurture them through it. But yeah, it's, it's 488 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,160 interesting. It's always a always an 489 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,640 adventure. Yeah, but that's what I mean 490 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:41,080 that that makes this fun and exciting and it also what's 491 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:46,720 interesting the time we're in with AI and computers and and 492 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:52,840 just the the competition online and who will it will make a will 493 00:33:52,840 --> 00:34:01,160 or a trust for you. And I, I am not, I, I know that 494 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:07,320 our product is better, right? Because people are not robots, 495 00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:12,560 you know, they are not, you know, a blue block and a red 496 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,840 block and a yellow block makes this kind of person, you know, 497 00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:20,880 people have experiences and they say, I'm not going to use the 498 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:25,120 computer anymore. Or I do use the computer, but I, 499 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,280 I don't share this kind of stuff. 500 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:33,480 Or I, you know, I, the LegalZoom thing isn't going to ask them 501 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:37,920 about the, the cousin that wronged them and what happened 502 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:41,719 and, or that they want to leave money to that cousin, but they 503 00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:44,360 don't want to leave money directly because the cousin has 504 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:47,239 mental illness. And, well, what does that really 505 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:49,239 mean? And what can we do and not do? 506 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:57,240 So I think that people and farmers are, we're complex, you 507 00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:00,280 know, and, and we, and we have different goals. 508 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:07,680 So we we try to recognize those in the office and and really put 509 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:12,120 together something that is gonna work for various scenarios and 510 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,840 tries to address those goals. Yeah, yeah. 511 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,640 So I know we're getting short on time, but I, you know, if, if 512 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,600 you're a farmer and you don't have these things in place, or 513 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:29,400 maybe even if you do, you know, what would be one piece of 514 00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:32,400 advice that you would give someone in the farming community 515 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:39,080 as far as long term planning, right from a legal, you know, 516 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:40,840 from, from what you do standpoint? 517 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:46,000 What would that be? I would say if they don't have 518 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:51,200 anything in place, that regardless of your age, if 519 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,880 you're an adult, you need to have at least some basic estate 520 00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:59,200 planning documents in place. Because again, anyone can have a 521 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,480 car accident. But you're, when you're talking 522 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:06,560 about farmers and tractors and, and machinery, you know, you 523 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:11,320 increase the risks from your like I sit in a computer most 524 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:14,680 days or at a table. My job is a little bit less 525 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,480 risky. But the farm clients, usually 526 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:20,840 they have more risky, more of a risky profession. 527 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:24,880 So they should have those documents in place. 528 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:31,640 And I see a lot of farmers thinking, well, I mean, I think 529 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,040 there's just a thought. Well, I'm not ready to pass away 530 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,640 yet or I don't know where the farm's gonna go. 531 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:41,880 And I think just like when you're a parent and you, you 532 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:44,960 might feel like, oh, I don't know who I would name as a 533 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,800 guardian for my child if I wasn't there, You have to just 534 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,920 think about today. Like, what if something happened 535 00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,800 today or tomorrow? What would be the best option 536 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:01,080 for now? And it's scary to think about. 537 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:05,960 But our thoughts do not become reality, you know, or we'd all 538 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,600 be in trouble because we all have thoughts sometimes that are 539 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:13,080 scary. And thankfully those do not, you 540 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,960 know, become reality just because they popped into your 541 00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:19,880 head. So kind of allowing yourself to 542 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:26,040 think through and create that emergency plan, I think is, is 543 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:33,200 good for you and your family and your business and right and the, 544 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,120 and the because for farmers too, it it's that that pressure of 545 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:41,480 you, you provide in your business provides food for 546 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:44,160 people. It might provide a legacy of 547 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,720 land. It also might be mean jobs to 548 00:37:47,720 --> 00:37:51,560 people. So you owe it to all of those 549 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:55,360 people to have something in place, even if it's not your 550 00:37:55,360 --> 00:38:01,360 final succession plan. And I think that that that 551 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:05,520 applies to a lot of people feel like, well, I just haven't done 552 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:09,840 my will yet, you know, because it's like I'm not ready to go. 553 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:16,360 But you're probably going to have a new will at some point in 554 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,200 your life if you if you're really going to keep yourself 555 00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:23,280 prepared because you change and your business is going to 556 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,760 change. Well, and you know, as you're, 557 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:29,480 as you're talking too, it's my, my question becomes like from 558 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:31,240 everything you said at the beginning of the show and then, 559 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,200 you know, relating specifically to farmers, having those things 560 00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:39,440 in place gives you at least some level of control as to what 561 00:38:39,440 --> 00:38:43,960 happens to your farm, your livestock, your equipment, your, 562 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:46,720 you know, whatever it like it gives you some level of control 563 00:38:46,720 --> 00:38:48,880 about what happens should something happen to you. 564 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,160 But my so my question is, what if you don't have those things 565 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:53,720 in place? What happens? 566 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,240 Oh, New New York State has a plan for you, you know. 567 00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:00,680 Well, they used to have really good plans, so I'm not. 568 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:03,800 They have a, they have a great plan. 569 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:11,200 So the thing that that surprises most people is if you have a 570 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:17,280 spouse and children, everything that you own does not go to your 571 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,240 spouse. Your spouse has to share those 572 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:24,960 assets with the children. It's not 100% everything to my 573 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:28,120 spouse because. And, and I think that surprises 574 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,560 a lot of people because, you know, you, you don't think of 575 00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:33,840 your kid getting a share in there. 576 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,280 You just think everything's gonna go to your spouse. 577 00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:37,960 So yeah. That's kind of what I thought. 578 00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:39,960 Yeah. So that's kind of the most 579 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:43,080 surprising thing that New York State has in place. 580 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:49,600 And then I would say like for healthcare, you know, it's, it's 581 00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:53,840 the defaultest spouse, but then when you and then I think it 582 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:58,160 goes parent, so your parents and then your adult children. 583 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:02,160 I'm pretty off my memory. But then what if you have more 584 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,040 than one child and is your relationship with those children 585 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:10,480 all the same? And you know, which is which of 586 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,080 the children are the ones that you would really want to make 587 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:16,120 medical decisions for you because. 588 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,160 You know, I, I love my two children dearly, but they, 589 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:22,920 they're different. You know, I have two daughters 590 00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:24,880 and they're, and they're very different. 591 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:30,440 So, you know, anyone that like when clients say, oh, all my 592 00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:35,800 kids feel the same? Do they really, You know, and I 593 00:40:35,800 --> 00:40:39,280 think it's a lot of pressure to put on kids when you, when you 594 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:43,720 haven't figured out who should make a decision. 595 00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:47,640 Like you're gonna let them decide and Duke it out. 596 00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:49,960 Like if they've ever fought about anything, they're gonna 597 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,440 fight now. Oh, kids never do right? 598 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,600 Never played about anything. Yeah, my kids are angels all the 599 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:02,560 time, right? Oh, well, listen, I, I just, I 600 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:04,160 wanna say thank you for coming on the show, Megan. 601 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:06,640 I really appreciate it. Appreciate what you're doing in 602 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,680 the farm community. And I know when we spoke, you 603 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,160 were talking about all sorts of farms. 604 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:13,880 I, I didn't even know we're out there. 605 00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,640 So I was excited to learn about some new local farms and, and 606 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:18,120 about a bunch of different organizations. 607 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,560 Also, I was familiar with some and others I've never heard of. 608 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,040 And so I started looking them up and there's a lot of great 609 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:26,280 support out there if people are able to find it. 610 00:41:26,280 --> 00:41:28,600 So, you know, thanks for doing what you do. 611 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:31,480 Thanks for coming on the show. Thank you. 612 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,640 So, yeah, thank you so much. And I think we're in a great 613 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:40,000 region for agriculture. And I just, I just want to also 614 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:45,040 encourage listeners to support our local agriculture, but join 615 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:51,560 ACSA, you know, which means pay for a share of farm fresh food 616 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:56,760 and get go to events or get connected with Saratoga Plan and 617 00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,000 Agricultural Stewardship Association. 618 00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,720 And just it's important that we support these small farms so 619 00:42:02,720 --> 00:42:05,800 that they remain here in our area. 620 00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:10,640 Yeah, 90% of farms in America are, are on that do under 621 00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:16,600 $500,000 in revenue and we're losing about 150,000 of them 622 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:21,520 every year. So yeah, it's it's it's amazing. 623 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:27,680 And if you, if listeners want to go look at the Agricultural 624 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:31,160 Stewardship Association's website, the ASA website, they 625 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:35,880 have a cool interactive map, I believe, where you can see what 626 00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:39,840 farmland they've preserved with a conservation easement. 627 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,600 And you know, they're charging each year. 628 00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:46,320 They're like charging through trying to conserve more and more 629 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:50,440 acreage. And I think, you know, it's at a 630 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:53,760 time right now where funding it for these things is kind of 631 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:58,800 questionable 'cause some funding does come through through the 632 00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:02,600 federal government, a lot of it from the state for these 633 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:04,680 easements. But I think it's an important 634 00:43:04,680 --> 00:43:09,200 time if, if this is what you care about to to look out for 635 00:43:09,200 --> 00:43:12,160 these organizations for sure. Yeah, yeah. 636 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:14,240 And it's an easy thing. We have so many farmers markets 637 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:16,080 in Warren, Washington, Saratoga County. 638 00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:18,520 I mean, it's the easiest thing to go and support a local farmer 639 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:22,720 like or going to Buckley's Farm or any of these other farms that 640 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:24,160 are able to sell consumer direct. 641 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:26,960 I mean, it's, it's, it's important help keep them alive, 642 00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:28,440 keep them going. Yeah. 643 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:33,000 Megan, if yeah, you're welcome. If you want to learn more about 644 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,760 you or more about your firm and how you can help them, how do 645 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:40,640 they find you? At saratogawills.com and on 646 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:45,240 there we also have a whole page with videos for about farm 647 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:48,880 succession that I did with the Adirondack Land Trust. 648 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:52,120 So there's a whole lot of information on there, but 649 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:55,320 Saratoga wills.com. Perfect. 650 00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:58,280 And are you on the the social medias at all or are you guys 651 00:43:58,280 --> 00:44:02,360 out there in that land? We are on Facebook, Instagram 652 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:10,600 and LinkedIn and now next door and we we would love we would 653 00:44:10,600 --> 00:44:13,720 love more followers. We have some really creative 654 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:17,120 posts and not a big enough audience. 655 00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:19,120 I would say all. Right. 656 00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:24,240 So, so get out there everybody and follow them on What's the 657 00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:27,880 next door app, right? Yeah, that we just, we just 658 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:31,440 joined because it seems like people are talking on there so. 659 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:33,640 There's some conversations going on for sure. 660 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:37,880 Oh yeah. Megan, thanks again. 661 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,960 I appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of your day and 662 00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,120 I'm sure we'll we'll see you again soon. 663 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:44,480 And thanks everybody for listening. 664 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,640 Of course, you can find us Buying local podcast is on 665 00:44:47,640 --> 00:44:52,360 Spotify, Apple, YouTube and Rumble, and you can get all 666 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:56,240 those links if you head on over to buying local, dot US and 667 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,640 click on the media links. It's got our podcast, it's got 668 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:03,240 our blue collar startup podcast. And also we just launched a new 669 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:07,320 podcast that we're producing for Steven Zabala from Green Fork. 670 00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:09,680 The podcast's called Food for Thought. 671 00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:11,680 He's got some really interesting things going on over there. 672 00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:15,840 So check it out and you'll hear from us next week.