Rapidly rising farmland values1 and rising farm incomes have had a major impact on family relationships. One notable effect has been on perceptions of fairness based on estate and business plans originating in an earlier era, as recently discussed in these pages.2 Another, of nearly equal importance, involves financial assistance within families that may balloon with higher input costs and higher machinery costs as the younger generation strives to adjust to a new level of both income and expenses. Financial assistance by parents (or grandparents) to the farming generation may have seemed reasonable a few years ago but may have climbed sharply in recent years to the point where the assistance becomes an issue with the Internal Revenue Service.