Mom and dad run the family. We act as its CFO: keeping the family balance sheet, working through the keep, sell or exchange decision, and getting your attorney, CPA and broker working from one plan.
Registered Investment Adviser · Hanford, California · (559) 909-3061
How we work
The parents are the co-CEOs, and the decisions are theirs. A CFO's job is to know the whole balance sheet (the land, the water, the debt, the trust), see the big decisions coming years out, and get the attorney, CPA and broker in the same room before anything is signed. That's the seat we take.
Where to Start
Most families don't need another advisor's pitch. They need clear information about their actual situation. We've built a library of educational resources: deep, specific, and honest about trade-offs. Start wherever your question lives.
A Central Valley farm family walks through the full tax math of a $28M sale, and the blended strategy that deferred roughly $10 million in tax, keeping that money invested rather than paid at closing.
The five rules, the California-specific traps (FTB Form 3840 clawback, 3.33% withholding, Williamson Act transfers, water rights classification), and the timing that matters.
A clear-eyed look at what it actually requires, legally, financially, and generationally, when a family chooses to hold rather than sell. The conditions that favor it, the conditions that don't, and the 20-year math.
For families sitting with a decision and not moving forward. Prop 19's quiet end of the family farm exclusion, SGMA pressure, and what the menu actually looks like with ten years of runway versus six months.
Once the decision to sell is made, what comes next? A framework for evaluating DSTs, NNN leases, installment sales, Qualified Opportunity Zones, charitable trusts, and managed portfolios, evenhandedly, with no product-pushing.
How we coordinate CPAs, attorneys, qualified intermediaries, agricultural brokers, and real estate partners around a single family plan, so you're not project-managing your own team.
New guides, case studies, and articles on California farmland transitions, estate planning, 1031 exchanges, Prop 19, SGMA, and succession strategy, added regularly.
If you have already read enough, or if your question isn't covered above, start here. The first conversation is confidential, with no charge and no obligation. We'll tell you honestly whether working together would add value.
Schedule a ConsultationInteractive Tools
Free, private, and built on the actual statutes. Nothing you enter is saved or sent; the tools exist so you can see your situation clearly before a single conversation happens.
What California probate would cost your family: statutory fees on the gross estate, to the dollar, and what a funded trust avoids.
Run the numbersSale price, basis, and depreciation in; your estimated net after federal and California tax out, next to the 1031 and hold-until-death columns.
Estimate your netSeven stages, two unforgiving clocks, and where the money sits at every step. Tap any stage to see the work underneath it.
Walk the timelineNine questions that reveal whether a plan actually works: the trust, the titling, the beneficiaries, the adult kids. Two minutes, in your browser only.
Find your gapsAlso in the toolbox: the 1031 deadline calculator, the Form 593 withholding comparison, the Prop 19 parcel estimator, and the guided roles worksheet.
Our Firm
Avidity Capital Inc. is a fiduciary Registered Investment Adviser headquartered in Hanford, California, at the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. We work alongside farming families across Kings, Tulare, Fresno, Kern, Madera, and Merced counties at the intersection of land, legacy, and long-term financial well-being.
Our practice is grounded in a genuine understanding of California agriculture and the financial complexity that comes with generational land ownership: water rights, farm succession, 1031 exchanges, Williamson Act contracts, and estate coordination. We bring both the technical expertise and the human perspective required to help families navigate their most important decisions.
The first conversation is confidential, with no charge and no obligation.
Your estate plan, read and explained in plain English.
The keep, sell or exchange decision, with your attorney, CPA and broker working from one plan.
A separate fee.
Legacy Land Advisory
For generations, Central Valley farming families have built their identity, wealth, and community around the land they steward. When the time comes to consider selling, whether driven by water challenges, rising costs, succession gaps, or a strong market, the tax consequences alone can erase decades of equity without careful planning.
Legacy Land Advisory was created specifically for this moment. We help California farm families evaluate every option, including continuing to hold, so every decision is deliberate, informed, and aligned with the family's long-term goals.
We start by understanding your land, your family, your goals: acreage, crop type, debt, water rights, and the full complexity of your situation.
We develop a tailored roadmap: 1031 exchange timing, replacement property evaluation, installment structures, estate planning, and investment positioning.
We work alongside your CPA, attorney, and other advisors to implement your plan with precision.
Your legacy is our long-term commitment. We remain your trusted partner through every season.
Fees
Planning fees are published on our Fees page. For farm families, the fee is flat, the same whatever the land sells for.
A separate fee based on the assets we manage.
One thing you should know up front. Our planning fee is flat, but if you sell and ask us to manage the proceeds, we earn more than if you keep the land. That's a real conflict, so we handle it with order: the keep-or-sell analysis is finished and in your hands, in writing, before we talk about managing a dollar of it.
We take no commissions, referral fees or payments from anyone but the families we work for. We are paid nothing on a DST.
Watch
More farmland transition videos on the Avidity Capital YouTube channel.
A Letter Series for Families
Short, plainspoken letters we wrote for our own families. Eleven questions on taxes, timing, family, and the land itself, written in plain language. We send the series once. No follow-ups unless you ask.
Send Me the LettersNo commitment. Unsubscribe anytime.
Not a Farmland Owner?
Families whose wealth is a business, rental property or inherited accounts can work with us directly.
Avidity Journey is our planning service for California public safety and military families. It starts with a free check of your pay, pension and benefits, built from official pay and pension tables, with the source shown for every number, and adds a fiduciary adviser when you want one.
Visit Avidity JourneyCommon Questions
Straight answers to the questions Central Valley farming families ask us first.
Avidity Capital Inc. is a fiduciary, fee-only registered investment adviser serving agricultural families across the California Central Valley, including Kings County, Tulare County, Fresno County, Kern County, Madera County, and Merced County. Our Legacy Land Advisory service is designed specifically for farming families considering the sale of farmland and the tax and estate planning challenges that follow.
A Section 1031 like-kind exchange allows California farm families to defer capital gains taxes when selling agricultural land by reinvesting proceeds into qualifying replacement property. With farmland values near historic highs across the San Joaquin Valley, a properly structured 1031 exchange can defer hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in federal and California state capital gains taxes.
Central Valley farm families have multiple replacement property options when structuring a 1031 exchange, including direct real estate (other farmland, residential rentals, commercial property), triple-net leased commercial buildings, and Delaware Statutory Trusts (DSTs). Avidity Capital evaluates each option on a fiduciary basis without commission exposure to any specific product category.
No. For families with productive ground, secure water rights, willing heirs or viable lease structures, and clear succession plans, continuing to hold the farm often produces the strongest long-run outcome. Avidity Capital evaluates the hold-versus-sell decision on a fiduciary basis, including the structural tax advantages of stepped-up basis at death, professional farm management lease structures, Williamson Act contract monitoring, and the annual planning work that holding responsibly requires.
Whether you are planning to pass the farm to the next generation or preparing for an outright sale, Avidity Capital helps Central Valley farming families structure the transition to minimize estate taxes, avoid probate, and preserve family wealth across generations. We coordinate estate planning attorneys, tax CPAs, and trust specialists to ensure every piece of the plan works together.
Selling a California farm triggers complex tax consequences, including federal long-term capital gains, California state capital gains, depreciation recapture, and net investment income tax. Avidity Capital works alongside your CPA to evaluate options including installment sales, charitable remainder trusts, Qualified Opportunity Zone investments, and stepped-up basis strategies. See the tax math on a hypothetical sale.
California imposes additional layers of complexity on farmland transactions, including FTB Form 3840 clawback filings on out-of-state 1031 exchanges, the 3.33% withholding default on real estate sales, Williamson Act contract transfer mechanics, water rights classification under SGMA, and Proposition 19 impact on intergenerational transfers. Our Legacy Land Advisory service is built around these state-specific realities.
We work with farming families throughout the Central Valley and surrounding agricultural regions, including Hanford, Lemoore, Visalia, Tulare, Fresno, Clovis, Bakersfield, Delano, Porterville, Dinuba, Selma, Sanger, Madera, Merced, Los Banos, Coalinga, Avenal, Corcoran, Wasco, and surrounding communities. We also work with families who don't farm. See who we serve for where we work and what fee-only means here. Crops and operations we commonly advise on include almonds, pistachios, walnuts, table grapes, wine grapes, citrus, stone fruit, cotton, dairy operations, cattle ranches, row crops, and irrigated grain farming.
Avidity Capital is a fiduciary Registered Investment Adviser. We are fee-only: planning fees, plus a separate asset management fee for clients who choose investment management, and we accept no commissions, referral fees, or revenue-sharing from third parties. We are structurally independent from real estate sponsors, DST issuers, qualified intermediaries, broker-dealers, and insurance companies. Our Legacy Land Advisory service acts as the family's financial quarterback, bringing together agricultural real estate brokers, tax professionals, estate attorneys, qualified 1031 intermediaries, and replacement property specialists into a coordinated team.
No. Avidity Capital Inc. is an independent, California-registered investment adviser in Hanford, California, founded by Theron Morgan in 2021, serving Central Valley families; see who we serve. It has no affiliation with Avidity Partners Management LP, a healthcare-focused investment firm, or with any other firm using the word Avidity. If you were looking for one of those firms, this is not it.
Begin the Conversation
Whether you're facing a land transition, planning for the next generation, or simply looking for a trusted adviser to help guide your financial future, we'd be honored to be part of that conversation. The first conversation is confidential, with no charge and no obligation.
Tell us a little about your situation and we’ll be in touch to schedule a confidential conversation.