Agricultural solicitors

Agriculture & land: Legal & financial advice

We work with our agriculture clients to deliver technical expertise across all our legal and financial disciplines which includes advising on:

• Diversification including renewable energy schemes, regulatory compliance, strategic development and purchase & sale of land
• Agricultural property and landed estates, including agricultural tenancies, commercial leases, Partnership Agreements, farm sharing structures and sale & purchase of land
• Litigation, including commercial, commercial property and Partnership disputes, contentious trust and probate disputes, property rights, boundary and tenancy issues
• Employment, including farming employment contracts, employment related litigation, settlement agreements and company reorganisations & redundancies
• Company and commercial, including farming partnerships and company structures, share and asset sales, franchising and corporate financing arrangements, intellectual property and e-commerce issues
• Regulatory, including advising on health and safety, environmental, regulatory compliance, enforcement notices and litigation brought by professional bodies and enforcement agencies
• Family law and divorce, including farming divorce, separation, pre- and post-nuptial agreements, cohabitation and child arrangements
• Wills, probate and estate planning, including inheritance tax and estate planning, succession planning, discretionary trusts, Wills, trust planning and probate matters
• Wealth management including tax advice, financial planning, family business protection, pensions and investment advice

Whether your farming business is large or small, we can give you the benefit of our unrivalled expertise. We liaise closely with your other professional advisers to ensure you receive the best and most comprehensive advice, which also anticipates future challenges you may face. 

Our lawyers have particular expertise in dealing with the specific challenges faced in owner-managed businesses as well as a strong reputation for advising on high-value and complex transactions including some of the above areas such as company reorganisations, share and asset sales and corporate financing arrangements. 

We work with our clients from start-up through to growth, and in some cases on to sale. Wherever you are in the cycle, we have the knowledge and expertise to help you prosper.

Call our specialist solicitors on 0808 231 1320

Generation after generation

Tees people are local people and building strong working relationships is at the heart of our business. We ensure our own succession planning is constantly reviewed and invest in our junior solicitors to make sure the skills and relationships that have been the bedrock of Tees for over 100 years carry forward to the next generation.

We pride ourselves on taking the time to get to know you and your circumstances and goals. It’s an approach we know works. Many of our clients have been with us for many years, enjoying not only this personal, committed approach, but also the honest, straightforward and jargon-free nature of everything we do. 

NFU National Panel Member  

We are consistently recommended by a number of nationally recognised land agents, as well as the NFU and CLA, as experts in our disciplines. We are one of only 16 law firms on the NFU national panel – recognition for the outstanding quality of our service and expert knowledge. We cover Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk under this scheme.

Tees & NFU Working Together

The NFU LAS is a helpline, based at NFU HQ and staffed exclusively by specialist NFU advisers. It provides financial support, professional guidance and a contribution towards professional costs for members facing legal disputes relating to their business as farmers or growers – and it’s extremely popular with 90% of NFU members subscribing to it. 

Specific legal or technical matters are transferred to experts in their particular field - and for legal issues, that’s where we at Tees come in.

If you need help and are insured with the NFU and your subscription includes membership of the LAS, contact us today. Partner Caroline Metcalf runs the LAS scheme and can discuss your case with you. 

Farm Legal Health Check

Our FREE legal health check is a chance to talk through any changes in your circumstances and plans for the future, with a specialist legal or financial expert on hand to advise you. Taking a proactive legal and financial overview like this is designed to secure your position, along with your future personal or business plans. 

We will visit you at your premises and undertake a review of your farming business to:

• gain an understanding of the farming business and the family dynamic 
• discuss with you any immediate proposed changes to your business or changes in circumstances which might have an impact on the farm business – for example you may be looking to  diversify or suspend an aspect of your farming activity; or perhaps you think it’s time to bring one of the children into the business
• consider your long-term goals – this may relate to succession or future diversification or development plans.

Following our meeting we will provide you with a summary of the points discussed and our recommendations in addressing the issues raised.

If you are an NFU member and are interested in arranging a free legal health check for your farming business, call us today.