(This story was updated Dec. 14 to include the Blair meeting.)

Nebraska Extension is hosting two Estate Planning Workshops this January for landowners, ranchers, and farmers.

The first will be Wednesday, January 16 at the Nielsen Community Center in West Point from 2 to 5 p.m. The second will be Tuesday, January 22 at the Public Library in Blair from 2 to 5 p.m.

Registration is requested to ensure proper handouts for participants. To register for the West Point meeting call the Nebraska Extension office in Cuming County at 402-372-6006 or stop by the office. To register for the Blair meeting call Nebraska Extension in Washington County at 402-426-9455 or stop by the office. 

The event is free and designed to help anyone thinking about how they should proceed with plans to retire, exit, or transfer the farm or ranch business. 

Presentations will be made by Allan Vyhnalek, Extension Educator working in farm succession/transfer, and Brandon Dirkschneider, certified financial planner and certified farm/ranch transition coordinator. 

Workshop topics will include the importance of having a plan, proper family communications, proper family negotiations, needed end of life documentation, estate planning options using wills, trusts, and/or other business entities.  A feature of this program will be to provide information about how insurance products can be used with estate planning.

Reactions from past participants can be summarized into one comment: Most participants wished that they had attended this workshop years earlier. Retiring or passing the farm to the next generation is difficult to think about and is an admission of your own impending demise; however, it is a necessary step and with good planning can be made as painless as possible.

For more information about the program, please contact Allan Vyhnalek, Extension Educator, at 402-472-1771 or e-mail avyhnalek2@unl.edu. For registration questions contact the host office. Use this flyer to share information about the West Point meeting with a friend.