President’s Message By Vern Jarboe

Summer 2022

In This Issue

1President’s Message By Vern Jarboe

3Real Estate Update By Matthew S. Gough

6Probate and Trust Update By Calvin J. Karlin

8IRS Tax Cases, Rulings and Changes in the Federal Law By Lauren G. Hughes

President’s Message

By Vern Jarboe

Sloan, Eisenbarth, Glassman, McEntire & Jarboe LLC

Presenters included: The Plaza Lights program came back live in December. Thank you to all who attended and even more thanks to those who presented. Those of us around for a while remember Plaza Lights had been a staple CLE program for many years and we hope attendance can maintain it going forward.

This past year we had 72 in attendance. We think that is sustainable going forward; more would be better.

• Public Incentives 101: What Company Counsel Needs to Know Presenters:

Kevin Wempe & Gina Riekhof • Real Estate Environmental Considerations Presenter: Jessica Merrigan • Medicaid Planning Panel – Panelists: Jennifer Walters, Tim O’Sullivan, Jessica

Stoppel, Randy Clinkscales • 2021 Estate Tax Updates (Panel) Presenters: Matthew T. Schippers, Tim

O’Sullivan, and Shannon Braun • Mediation & Arbitration Clauses in Trusts Presenter: Wyatt Hoch • Recent Trends in Kansas LLC Law and Practice Presenters: Bill Quick, Steve

Munch, and Tara Cyr • Ethical Landmines in Estate Planning Presenter: Vern Jarboe

Help plan the program for December 2022 by sending in some ideas on subjects you would like to see, or better yet the ones you would make a presentation on.

The legislative season has mostly wrapped up. Thanks to Joe Molina for a short summary of activity we are interested in. He provided the hyperlinks below.

• SB 141 Uniform Directed Trust Act • Sub for SB 400 Uniform Trust Code • SB 382 License Requirement for Real Estate Transactions • HB 2531 Right of Way along county roads

In the real estate world, I would report that the post COVID process will likely be the same process we learned to handle in the COVID era. This means very few faceto-face closings, many remote zoom meetings and changes to how we think about notarization. We have made sure our staff received training from the Secretary of State’s office on the new process. All of us now have a formal notary book in which we can record the required elements for any notarization. It certainly creates more work, and we may need to revisit what is considered to be administrative functions for purposes of billing.

The real estate market remains very hot in the residential field and commercial brokers tell me that market has seen significant movement. The commercial market

for office and retail does not have the shortage of inventory described by brokers in the residential market. However, trying to find that perfect industrial spot is very difficult and makes 1031 exchanges somewhat iffy unless the seller has identified the new spot before selling the old one.

The probate process slowed in our post-covid world as many courthouse staff members and judges were working remotely and a handful of staff members in the courthouse were taking care of the certification of letters needed for administrators and executors to act. The ability for remote notarization of documents by zoom required many additional steps that were time-consuming. The need for zoom hearings presented problems for many clients, attorneys, paralegals and courthouse staff during this learning curve. (we will never forget “I am not a cat!)

When in-person hearings or meetings were necessary, the uneasiness of wearing masks and social distancing protecting participants hung heavy with all. I do believe we have come through the other side of the pandemic with a renewed ability to shift, turn and continue the ability to service clients in the probate and trust world. It also appears the Covid experience may have made many things more efficient although less personal.

Please let me know if you have a topic or concern that you would like to write on – or that someone else needs to work on. We survive based on volunteers for both committee work and providing good substance to members. I look forward to hearing from you.

Section Officers

President – Vern Jarboe President-Elect – Kevin Mitchelson Secretary/Treasurer – Mark Andersen Editor – Cal Karlin Legislative Liaison – Scott Jensen CLE Liaison – Kent Meyerhoff