PRACTICE AREAS

Wealth Planning/Administration

John S. Schmidt is a business and estate planning attorney with 30 years' experience practicing law in Kansas and Colorado. He counsels clients in the Firm's Overland Park office and manages the south-central and western Kansas practice from the Hutchinson office. Mr. Schmidt also handles business and estate planning for Polsinelli Shughart's Denver area clients.

DISTINCTIONS

KC Magazine in 2005 recognized John as a Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyer

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Trusts and Estates: 2007-2009

COMMUNITY AND BAR INVOLVEMENT

Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel

Eastern Kansas Estate Planning Association

Kansas Bar Association

American Bar Association

Children’s Mercy Hospital (Kansas City, Missouri)

Donald H. Chisholm Planned Giving Council

Mid-America Planned Giving Council (Kansas City, Missouri)

NOTABLE EXPERIENCE

Mr. Schmidt is experienced in:

Estate Planning. Preparation of Estate Planning documents.

Will. Every individual should have a will. The will distributes the estate of an individual at death.

Durable Power of Attorney. The Durable Power of Attorney for business matters and health care matters allow an individual to designate an agent to manage in the event of incapacity or other circumstances.

Living Will. The Living Will allows "end of life" directives to an individual's doctor.

Revocable Living Trust. When estate tax is an issue, the trust document is drafted to maximize the available estate tax exemptions and deductions. If estate tax is not an issue (for smaller estates), a trust document is still recommended for individuals and married couples for probate avoidance and asset administration purposes, in particular, if the individual client should become disabled.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust. Such trusts purchase life insurance on the life of a client (or the client and spouse) in order to provide cash for the payment of estate tax on the death of the client and/or spouse while avoiding the includability of the life insurance proceeds in the estate of the client and/or spouse for estate tax purposes. The premium payment is provided by way of a cash gift from the client to the Irrevocable Trust coupled with the use of Crummey powers.

Numerous gifting strategies to reduce the size of an individual’s estate taxes, including strategies utilizing the gift tax annual exclusion and the creation of a Family Limited Partnership or Limited Liability Company and the Grantor Retained Annuity Trust and the Qualified Personal Residence Trust to achieve greater gifting efficiencies.

Charitable estate planning, including the implementation and funding of Charitable Remainder Trusts, Charitable Lead Trusts, and the creation of an individual’s own Charitable Foundation, where appropriate.

Strategies for maximization of the charitable deduction for current income tax and gift tax purposes as well as the estate, gift and income tax benefits of the testamentary transfer of retirement plan benefits to charity.

Estate tax, gift tax and generation-skipping tax planning.

Trust and Estate Administration

Preparation of Federal Estate Tax Returns for estates and trusts.

Advice to clients on the settlement of estates and trusts.

Administration of assets during the course of administration and the distribution of assets to beneficiaries at the conclusion of the trust and/or estate administration.

Business Succession and Tax Planning

Transition planning

Shifting ownership to the next generation of owners (family member, key employee or others), including utilization of Shareholder Agreements which provide for the sale of the interest in the business upon death, disability or termination of employment of the owner. Many times the Agreement is accompanied with an employment or consulting agreement that provides for the payment of deferred income to the owner from the business as part of the sale.

Developing strategies to maximize the sale of the business when the client wants to retire.

Designing life insurance products to fund the sale of the business at the death of the business owner.

Sale of stock to an ESOP.

Tax Planning and Implementation

State and local income, sales and use tax planning, multi state apportionment and allocation issues.

Tax free exchanges of real estate, land use restrictions, acquisitions and dispositions of real estate and tax consequences arising from real estate transactions.

Taxation of "S" Corporations and partnerships and drafting of partnership and limited liability company agreements reflecting tax income allocations and basis elections.

Corporate Law, Partnership Law, Business Law

Formation of business entities, corporations, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, business trusts and other entities.

Reorganization, restructuring and operation of business entities.

Planning for purchase, sale, merger, reorganization or other transactions involving business entities and planning for the income, state and local and transfer tax consequences to buyers and sellers.

Formation of charitable and non-profit organizations, including obtaining tax exempt status from the IRS and state and local revenue departments for income, sales and use tax and property tax purposes.

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

November 2008

What Do We Do With This Stuff?

LMH Endowment Association

Presentation given at Alvamar Country Club, Lawrence, Kansas.

October 2007

Basic Risk Managment and Asset Protection Strategies

Presentation to the Missouri Society of CPA's

October 2003

Basic Estate Planning

Presentation to Mid-America Planned Giving Council

March 2002

Charitable Estate Planning: A Review of Lifetime and Testamentary Charitable Planning Strategies

Kansas Bar Association

April 2001

It Is More Blessed to Give Than to Pay Tax: a Review of Lifetime Transfer Strategies and Method

Kansas Bar Association

EDUCATION

B.A., History, University of Kansas, 1971

J.D., University of Denver, 1974

BAR ADMISSIONS

Kansas, 1975

Colorado, 1974