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Note: This website is intended to provide general information about legal issues, crop insurance, farm policy, and other risk management issues and should not be construed as providing legal advice. It should not be cited or relied upon as legal authority. For advice about how the issues discussed here might apply to your individual situation, you should consult an attorney.

Welcome to the Maryland Risk Management Education Blog, provided by the University of Maryland Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and features the work of the Maryland Crop Insurance Education program and the University of Maryland - MPowering the State's Agriculture Law Education Initiative, a University of Maryland Extension Signature Program. This blog provides readers with information on risk management issues important to Maryland agriculture, upcoming events, and new materials that may interest readers.

Weekly News Roundup: August 19th Edition

Aug 19, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Roundup: August 19th Edition

By Mayhah Suri What Kind of Ag Law Outreach Would You Like to See? Now available online is a program evaluation for the Ag Law Education Initiative (ALEI). The evaluation will help ALEI determine what topics to prioritize in the coming years. Let us know what you want to know! You can take the brief, anonymous survey here: http://go.umd.edu/ALEIEval New Rules for Somerset County Chicken Farms Bill Satterfield is Executive Director for Delmarva Poultry Industry, Incorporated.

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Help, I Just Inherited the Family Farm With My Siblings. Now What?

May 31, 2016
4 min

Help, I Just Inherited the Family Farm With My Siblings. Now What?

This post is not legal advice. I continue discussing issues which can arise with family farm transitions and estate planning. A common situation is that siblings inherit farmland through intestacy (dying without a valid will or property outside the will) or a will specifies a quarter interest in the farm to X and the remaining three-quarters to Y. In each case, the farmland would be inherited as tenants in common, which can add complexity to managing the farmland. With tena

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Have You Developed an Estate Plan? What Happens When You Die Without A Will?

May 18, 2016
3 min

Have You Developed an Estate Plan? What Happens When You Die Without A Will?

This post is not legal advice. Recently, the singer Prince suddenly passed away, but many of you may not have seen the news that he died without a will (http://wapo.st/1YgOGvX). The rapper Snoop Dogg has discussed not having a will and not wanting to make a will either (http://onforb.es/1YgOIE9). In fact, Snoop Dogg has stated he would prefer to watch his heirs fight over his money after his death. Although many of us at times may not want to consider how to distribute pro

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A Look at the Age of Second and Third Operators: An Opportunity for Farm Transition Planning?

Aug 19, 2015
3 min

A Look at the Age of Second and Third Operators: An Opportunity for Farm Transition Planning?

We often hear that there is an aging problem in agriculture. The 2012 Census of Agriculture puts the average age of all Maryland agricultural operators at 56.4 years old and nationally the average age is 54.9 years old. We often see this average age used to illustrate that there is an aging problem in U.S. agriculture. But is there one? The 2012 Census of Agriculture categories break operators up into Principal Operator, Second Operator, and Third Operator. USDA defines pr

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IRS Releases Final Rules on Portability

Jul 29, 2015
3 min

IRS Releases Final Rules on Portability

This post should not be construed as legal advice or tax advice or marriage advice. In June, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the final regulations on the portability of a deceased spousal unused exclusion amount. To put that in simpler terms, every man, woman, and child is allowed over his/her lifetime to give assets to others without paying gift, estate, or generation-skipping taxes. This tax credit is known as unified tax credit and for 2015, the tax credit is

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