Farm Law and Ag Law Blog

Let a fellow farmer help you with a farm restructure or farm bankruptcy. John has been a farmer his entire life.  He knows how hard and unpredictable farming can be.  If you need help with a restructure or bankruptcy for your farm, doesn't it make sense to have a fellow farmer help you out?  John's extensive knowledge of farming will help you tremendously with your farming matter.  Most of all, John is passionate about saving family farms.  John will work closely with you to ensure you farm survives.   No matter where you are located, John is willing to try and give you assistance.   Give John a call to see if he can be of help.  

Farm Bankruptcy Continued. This article is a follow up to the last article on Chapter 12,  The Basics of Chapter 12 Farm Restructure , and will discuss the Chapter 12 process. First, in Chapter 12, a petition is filed by the farmer in Federal Bankruptcy Court. A bankruptcy trustee will be then be appointed. The Trustee is there to monitor the bankruptcy. Also, the Trustee will participate in most of the hearings that are held by the bankruptcy court. The Trustee is also in charge of ensuring that the debtor makes timely payments that are required under the plan. Unless the Court orders otherwise, the Trustee is there to ensure that payments under the plan are made to the trustee for eventual payment to creditors. After the filing, the farmer has 90 days to submit a reorganization plan to the Court. The good news is that unlike in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in a Chapter 12 the farmer does not need approval of the creditors through a voting process. A party in interest can object to

Farm Bankruptcy:  Chapter 12 Bankruptcy can save the family farm . Times are tough across the country with the current farm economy.   The current farm economy may very well force some difficult decisions upon many family farms. Fortunately, after the implosion of the farm economy in the 1980’s, Chapter 12 was added to the Federal Bankruptcy Code.  Chapter 12 exists to provide a special type of restructuring opportunity for family farms. While not so much as in the past, it is probably fair to say that there is a sort of stigma that exists through the farming industry about electing to engage in bankruptcy.  Likely, this stems from people believing they have failed if they have to utilize bankruptcy.  Honestly, I wish the official name for a “Chapter 12 Bankruptcy” was instead something along the lines of a “Chapter 12 Legal Farm Restructure”. In fact, the title for Chapter 12 in the Bankruptcy Code is “Adjustment of Debts of a Family Farmer or Fisherman with Regular Annual Income.