11th Annual Landowner Symposium: Our Land, Our Future

Planning for the Future of Family Land

The Center for Heirs’ Property will hold its 11th Annual Landowner Symposium: Our Land, Our Future on October 16 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern. The program will be offered virtually through Zoom and is designed for landowners and families who want practical information about protecting, managing and passing land to future generations.

The symposium brings together professionals from several fields that often intersect when families make long-term decisions about property. Topics include trusts and estate planning, property taxes, forestry opportunities, agroforestry and working lands. For farm and forest owners in the Appalachian Highlands, those subjects can be especially relevant when land has been held within a family for generations or when owners are trying to decide how property should be managed in the future.

Trusts, Taxes and Land Decisions

Attorney Trevor Stephens of Frazier Law Firm will discuss trusts, including how they work and questions families should consider when deciding whether a trust fits their estate-planning goals. Kevin Burkett, a certified public accountant and Clemson Cooperative Extension associate, will address taxes and land. These sessions can help participants identify questions to raise with their own legal and financial advisers before making decisions involving ownership, succession or property structure.

The program is educational and should not be treated as individualized legal or tax advice. However, it gives landowners a chance to become more familiar with the concepts and terminology that may shape later conversations with professionals.

Forestry and Working Lands

The symposium also includes forestry and land-use perspectives. Tatiana Height of the American Forest Foundation will discuss forestry opportunities for landowners, while agroforestry consultant Alaina Ring of New Leaf Climate will address agroforestry and working lands. Together, those sessions broaden the discussion beyond ownership documents and taxes to include ways families can actively manage land and think about its productive future.

Advance online registration is available through the Center for Heirs’ Property. Because the event is virtual, landowners throughout the Appalachian Highlands can participate without traveling. The Center encourages families to come prepared to learn, ask questions and use the information as a starting point for more informed decisions about their land.