Bookings open for Thainstone Monitor Farm succession meeting with a twist

It can be easy to avoid potentially difficult discussions on family farm succession, to be unaware of legal rights surrounding farming and family and not understand the complexities of finance and tax planning. The latest Monitor Farm Scotland meeting, which is open for booking, will tackle these topics in a very different way.

Watching others wrestle with the issues can be the first step in your own family journey. Based on real experiences across the country, Monitor Farm Scotland, with Johnston Carmichael, Virgin Money and Shepherd and Wedderburn, will bring the issues to the fore in a light-hearted but ultimately, potentially life-changing performance.

‘Succession, Finance, Legal Rights and Tax Planning: A Play’ takes the format of a round-the-table discussion with a banker, solicitor and accountant with a farming family in the middle. Come along to see how the discussions go, the key topics and how the advice from different professionals might impact on the farming family at the centre of the discussion.

The meeting, on Thursday 7 November from 6pm-8pm at Thainstone Centre, Inverurie, will be introduced by Monitor Farm Scotland. With a farming family at the centre of the discussion, other parts round the kitchen table are taken by Petra Grunenberg, solicitor and rural team partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn and a rural law accredited specialist; Graham Leith chartered accountant with Johnston Carmichael; and Rona Jordan, agricultural business manager with Virgin Money.

There will be a question and answer session after the play, with opportunities to meet the real-life actors, each experienced professionals on the subject of succession.

Graham Leith from Johnson Carmichael said: “Succession is a topic which features in most rural businesses. This event gives the opportunity to see the issues that arise when considering a succession plan, acted out in a family setting.”

Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Petra Grunenberg added: “The aim is to allow real time questions and answers in a less formal setting. This will hopefully make it easier for the audience to relate to and consider the subjects being discussed, which are often sensitive issues for individuals and families to deal with.”

Rona Jordan from Virgin Money said: “Role playing brings the issues to life more vividly and makes the process more real, rather than technical and abstract. This event will give people an idea of some of the day to day conversations we have with our faming clients and the various scenarios to be considered. We don’t expect guests to leave with all the answers, but we hope it will give them food for thought."

Peter Beattie, Monitor Farm North regional adviser, added: “A play is a different approach to the usual type of meeting. Watching it should give people encouragement to discuss money, legal and accountancy topics. Succession is such a critical issue and one which people can find really difficult. We hope this way of tackling it, with a farmer at the centre of the discussion with experts involved in his business, will be really useful for everyone.”

Booking is via this link to Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/MFSuccessionThainstone

• ‘Succession, Finance, Legal Rights and Tax Planning: A Play’ is on Thursday 7 November, from 6pm-8pm at Thainstone Centre, Inverurie, AB51 5XZ.