I was struck this past Monday as I watched the championship game about the successful succession each of these schools seems to have when it comes to there basketball programs. Kentucky is a traditional powerhouse that has won championships under many coaches, Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and John Calipari. Connecticut does not have near the history, but with this years win they now have four title teams under two coaches, Jim Calhoun and Kevin Ollie. The success of these two programs is in contrast with many coaching legends that have been followed closely by a successor who just couldn't measure up.

Like many of you I saw my NCAA Tournament brackets blown up by the upsets that inevitably come during the first weekend of the tourney each year. Duke loses to Mercer. Stanford shocks Kansas. Dayton moves to the Elite Eight. When considering passing along your business to the next generation you may feel like a "small school David" such as Mercer facing a "power conference Goliath" like Duke.

Today, March 21, 2014 is World Down Syndrome Day. I thought it would be a good day to revisit the subject of special needs planning. Often “special needs planning” devolves into "poverty planning” - how do we impoverish our son or daughter so they do not lose needed government assistance? Special needs planning can be so much more.

I just finished the new John Grisham book Sycamore Row. I am not normally a big fan of legal fiction because I spend so much of each day in legal reality; however, this story intrigued me because it involved a dispute over an estate. The story begins when a wealthy businessman, Seth Hubbard, who is dying from cancer, commits suicide. Quickly we learn that just days before his death he had revoked a will that had been carefully prepared to provide significant tax benefits and replaced it with what is known as a “holographic” will. A holographic will is a will that is in the handwriting of the person making the will (the Testator) and the will signed by the Testator generally without witnesses

When I meet with a farm or ranch client they often speak of the stewardship they feel concerning the farm business. The stewardship is not just about the land, but also what that farm or ranch represents. The business is a connector between the generations past, present, and future. In so many ways, it defines the families shared heritage as well it's aspirations for the future.

After the premature news of his passing, writer Mark Twain was once purported to have said: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Lately I have read several articles on the death of living trust based planning for all but the super wealthy. I would echo Twain’s sentiments and state that the reports of the death of the living trust have been greatly exaggerated. While the higher estate tax exemption amount and the dawn of portability have made the estate tax a non-factor for many individuals and couples, the usefulness of living trust based plans was never solely about estate taxes and most of the benefits continue unabated.

I am a huge college football fan. This past week of bowl games and the upcoming national championship are a football feast. I love watching well coached teams come out and execute a well conceived game plan. It's like watching a masterpiece being painted before your eyes.

I was honored to be one of the presenters at the Salt Lake Estate Planning Council’s Fall Institute on Thursday. I had a chance to teach other planners about the tools and techniques that can be used when planning for legacy assets, like a family cabin or a family farm. In attending one of the other presentations during the day, I was struck by this comment from Alan Gassman and attributed to Bob Burke:

The great Olympian Jesse Owens once said: "We all have dreams, in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort.“ I spent the day Wednesday meeting with farmers and ranchers from various parts of Southeast Idaho talking about succession planning. I am sure many felt overwhelmed at the prospects of starting to plan for the transition of the farm or ranch. But, like I always tell my kids, great things happen when you show-up in life and they showed-up. They were ready to start or continue the process of succession planning; and it is a PROCESS! It is not something you can finish in an afternoon. We all have unique situations, but with some effort and some grit, succession planning for a farm or ranch can be done successfully! At some point the transition will happen – whether by retirement, death, disability or some other cause. Will you be ready?

In his popular book Good to Great, author Jim Collins teaches that in business you have to have the right people on the bus and in the right seats – or in other words, you have to have the right people as employees and then have them doing the right jobs. A similar idea is important in planning for the transition of the family farm or ranch. We have to have all of the right people involved in the process and they have to be doing the right things for it to work. One way this manifests itself is with the need to figure out who actually owns “the farm.” A situation con commonly exists where the “Farmer” who his looking to transition the farm to his or her child, is still waiting to inherit some, or all, of the farm ground or other assets from his or her parents.