Succession planning: how these farming families tackled the tough topic

According to the federal government's Productivity Commission, Baby Boomers will pass on $224 billion each year in inheritances by 2050.

"They are huge numbers," Kimberley Davis, who deals with farm succession planning as part of her role as ANZ senior estate planning lawyer, said.

"It's so important that it actually gets done and people do something about it and not just leave it behind, because there's such an opportunity in this industry, and yet succession planning is done so poorly.

"The ramifications are: if you don't get it right and the farm either has to be sold or everybody hates each other, it's not good for anybody."

It's a process Central Queensland red Brahman breeders Wallace and Kate Gunthorpe are vocal advocates for.

Four years ago, they passed on the stud they established in 1979 to their son Adam and daughter-in-law Tracy, while their daughter Jane is pursuing a life of her own.

It's a decision that worked for everybody, but only after years of open communication.

"There's a lot of pressure on kids in the bush to come home and take over and I've seen cases where it just doesn't work," Mr Gunthorpe said.

"I was a great believer in: only come home if you want to come home, and if you didn't want to, that's fine.

"I always had a policy where if you both come home, it's fifty-fifty, if you both go away and work, it's fifty-fifty, but if one comes home, then there'll be an adjustment to the one who works in the business," Mr Gunthorpe said.

With the help of a professional succession planner to finalise things "legally and fairly", the business transition has been smooth.

"It was a good thing to let Adam take the business and move it forward and he's implemented a lot of very good things like rotational grazing and he's taken our cattle herd into Breedplan and focusing on all the numbers that count," Mr Gunthorpe said.

"He did a good job and I'm enjoying seeing him do so well. It's nice to live long enough to see him run a successful business."

Despite stepping back, Mr Gunthorpe still has interest in the Brahmans, sharing 50pc of all the IVF calves bred with Adam.

Adam owns the stud and herd and Wallace retains the right to flush anything, giving him an alternate income but also keeps his interest in the cattle business.

Mr Gunthorpe said it was a big topic that needed to be spoken about more, not ignored.

"It's better to do it now than a day after the funeral," he said.

"I'm no expert on it, but that's our experience and it was a good thing and I look back and enjoy the fact that we got it sorted those few years ago. It was a good day's work."

He said it was part of being a sustainable business, allowing it to prosper into the future.

"The young people bring in new ideas and new management skills - skills that I didn't have.

"I did the best I could with what I had, but it was time for the next generation to do the best they could and they come in with a better education and more knowledge."

ANZ's Kimberley Davis said when it came to succession planning, it wasn't a case of one size fits all.

"What I have learned over the years of doing this is that everybody's circumstances are different, so we actually have to bring a lot to the table to try to work out what is going to work for you," she said.

For some, that is retiring off-farm. For others, it's retiring on-farm but passing on the business.

Ms Davis deals with plenty of scenarios where some children are off-farm and some are on-farm and she helps work out a balance.

"With what we read in newspapers [and] what we see on TV about famous people who have died, everybody thinks that everything has to be split equally. It is not the case," she said.

For mixed farmers Doug and Alexis Browne, Dacsbro, Springvale, they've decided not to bring in a formal planner, but have still detailed their wishes and discussed them with daughters Carla and Sally.

"The older generation, in my father's day, usually didn't give the girls anything in the family and the son took over the property and that was that. They'd wait for a girl to marry a rich grazier," he said.

Mr Browne said times had changed, and while his daughters had both built successful careers and wouldn't be running the farm, they would still inherit it.

"They love the farm, but they wouldn't be working the farm," he said.

"We've had one agenda from day one with our girls: what one gets, the other one gets, or they get the equivalent. They know everything's fair."

That's where his nephew Scott comes in. He's been managing the farm alongside Doug, who hopes he will continue when he's gone.

"He and I seem to get on extremely well. I rely on him now, and it's sort of a succession planning that doesn't need to be an official one, because I don't have any trouble if he stays here for the rest of his life," Mr Browne said.

"What's the point in selling out for a few million? You can't put it in your coffin with you."

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