Workshops on business succession and estate planning for farm and ranch owners, families and beginners will be held at four sites this January and February.

The free workshops address farm and ranch business succession and family estate planning. It will include a discussion of beginning farmer programs that can aid in succession planning.  The workshop should be useful for established farm and ranch owners, for their successors, and for beginners.

Topics include: stages of succession planning, contribution and compensation, balancing the interests of on-farm and off-farm heirs; the importance of communication, setting goals, assessing feasibility, and balancing inter-generational expectations and needs; beginning farmer loan and tax credit programs; the use of trusts, wills, life estate deeds and business entities (such as the limited liability company) in family estate and business succession planning;  legal tools for balancing the interests of successors and off-farm heirs; asset protection; taxation (federal transfer taxes, Nebraska inheritance tax, basis adjustment), and essential estate documents.

Speakers include:

• Joe Hawbaker, agricultural law attorney, with Hawbaker Law Office, Omaha
• Dave Goeller, deputy director, Northeast Center for Risk Management Education, UNL

Workshop Sites

• Bridgeport – January 25, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.,m.
• Chadron – January 25, 5-8 p.m.
• Curtis – February 17 
• St. Paul - February 23

Registration

For more site information or to register call the Rural Response Hotline at 1-800-464-0258. Meetings include a meal.

This workshop is made possible by the Nebraska Network for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers, the Farm and Ranch Project of Legal Aid of Nebraska, USDA-Farm Service Agency, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture’s Next Gen, Nebraska Extension, and there will be a local meal sponsor at each location.