A business succession and estate planning workshop will be held on Wednesday Mar. 22 in Chadron at Chadron State College from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for farm and ranch owners, families and beginners.

There is no charge for the workshop. To register (and for questions) call the Rural Response Hotline at 1-800-464-0258. Registrations taken after Mar. 15 are not guaranteed a meal during the workshop.

This workshop is about 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 & compensation, balancing the interests of on-farm and off-farm heirs; the importance of communication, setting goals, assessing feasibility, 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; 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.

This workshop is made possible by the Nebraska Network for Beginning Farmers & Ranchers, the Farm and Ranch Project of Legal Aid of Nebraska, USDA-FSA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture’s Next Gen, and Nebraska Extension. The meal sponsored by Farmers State Bank, Security First Bank, and First National Bank of Chadron.