| Butler County Times Gazette
For farm families the holidays can come with difficult conversations — namely, the future of the farm.
“Over holiday gatherings, around the dinning room table or on Zoom, talk turned to the future for many farm and ranch families across the area,” said Tiya Tonn, director of the Butler County Farm Bureau. “While not the most pleasant conversations, very necessary ones to make sure family agricultural operations flow seamlessly from one generation to another.”
Butler County Farm Bureau Association is offering an opportunity to help farm and ranch families tackle these discussions by offering an Ag Estate Planning Seminar with Tim O’Sullivan, Senior Partner with Foulston Law Firm in Wichita on Jan. 5,
“Questions need to be addressed regarding, death, disability, inherited shares, management, and more,” Tonn said.
The event will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 5 at the El Dorado Civic Center, 201 East Central. Health safety protocols will be in place.
The seminar is open to all farm and ranch families in the area. Butler County Farm Bureau Members may attend for free, others may attend for only $25 per person. RSVPs are required to ButlerFB@KFB.org or 316/320-3166 by Jan.3.
O’Sullivan represents clients primarily in connection with their estate and tax planning and the administration of trusts and estates. He has experience in developing and implementing both simple and complex estate planning techniques. As part of his practice,. O’Sullivan crafts wills, testamentary trusts, revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, dynasty or other types of generation-skipping trusts, “special needs” trusts, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, living wills, premarital agreements, stock purchase or buy-sell agreements, strategic gifting and estate tax planning, asset protection planning, governmental resource planning (e.g., Medicaid and SSI), family business succession plans, premarital agreements, IRA, 401k or other tax deferred beneficiary designations and deferral strategies, life insurance structures, family limited partnerships and limited liability companies, grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs), private annuities, self-canceling installment notes (SCINs) and other instruments and estate planning techniques. A substantial portion of Mr. O’Sullivan’s practice also involves advising clients on strategies and provisions which enhance the preservation of family harmony in the estate planning process.
Important estate planning knowledge attendees would expect to gain:
-Why most estate plans, including farm and ranch estate plans, have a high risk of family disharmony and litigation and how such risks can best be minimized.
-How to estate plan to reduce exposure to the high costs of long-term care and why most farm and ranch estate plans are poorly planned for a parental disability.
-How to leave assets to family members in a manner to protect such assets from possible spousal claims, creditor claims, exclude inherited assets from their taxable estates and avoid them from counting as a resource for Medicaid benefits should a family member become disabled.
– How to reduce federal estate taxes on farm and ranch property in view of the reduction in the federal gift and estate tax exemption likely to come in future years.