A beginning estate planning workshop aimed at small and socially disadvantaged farmers and rural homeowners is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 24.
The event will be held in the 1890 Extension Complex Auditorium at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
Presenters include Rusty Rumley, staff attorney, the National Agricultural Law Center, Fayetteville; Freeman McKindra, McKindra Land Co. LLC; Everlyn Bryant, JN Bryant Farms partnership; and a representative from Laura J’s-Edwards Inc.
Topics include estate planning verses succession planning; federal and state taxes; and estate planning tools.
Also, Marisa Harris, area specialist, U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency, will answer questions about the agency’s housing programs.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Succession planning is important to farmers because 90 percent of farming operations do not survive the transition from one generation to the next, said Henry English, head of the Small Farm Program at UAPB. Succession planning can also protect assets from unforeseen events such as lawsuits and divorce.
Estate planning is for anyone who owns property or valuable assets. Using estate planning tools correctly allows homeowners to structure estate planning so that heirs can obtain loans to run and keep the family home and farm intact and in the family when there are multiple heirs, English said.
The 1890 Extension Complex is located on the corner of L.A. “Prexy” Davis Drive and Oliver Road. The workshop is funded by the Southern Risk Management Education Center’s 2010 Extension Risk Management Education Grants Program. Details: Contact Kellye Luckett at 575-7226 or Rita Conley, 575-8540.