The Nebraska Farm Succession Series, hosted by the Nebraska Beginning Farmer and Rancher Network, returns in January with free workshops in Mead, Tekamah, Norfolk and Central City.

The meetings are designed to answer key questions of farm and ranch owners, families, and those just beginning in farming.

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

Workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the following cities:

• Mead on Jan. 13
• Tekamah on Jan. 14
• Norfolk on Jan. 15
• Atkinson on Jan. 26
• Ord on Jan. 27
• Central City on Jan. 28
  
• North Platte on Feb. 9, UNL West Central Research and Extension Center, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., includes lunch
• Alliance on Feb. 10, Alliance Public Library, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., includes lunch

Lunch is included.

The workshops are about farm and ranch business succession, family estate planning, and beginning farmer programs.  It is intended for established farm and ranch owners and their successors, and for beginners. Topics include:  the stages of succession planning, contribution and compensation, balancing the interests of on-farm and off-farm heirs; the importance of communication, setting goals, analyzing cash flow, and balancing intergenerational 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; buy-sell agreements, asset protection, taxation (federal transfer taxes, Nebraska inheritance tax, basis adjustment), and essential estate documents.

To register or for more information, call the Nebraska Rural Response Hotline at 1-8000-464-0258.