Phillip K. Johnson

Phillip Johnson concentrates his practice on trust, estate, tax and general business law. His practice involves:

• Preparation of basic estate planning instruments including wills, revocable trusts, durable powers of attorney for financial matters, durable powers of attorney for health care and living wills.
• Estate tax planning for use of the marital deduction and estate tax exemption.
• Sophisticated estate planning for high net worth individuals including structure and documentation of family limited partnerships, discount planning, gifting programs, generation-skipping tax planning, private annuities, installment sales, grantor retained annuity trusts, qualified personal residence trusts and grantor trusts.
• Succession planning for owners of closely-held businesses including structure and documentation for corporate reorganizations, recapitalizations, voting trusts, stock sales, asset sales and non-qualified deferred compensation plans.
• Life insurance planning including preparation of irrevocable life insurance trusts.
• Charitable planning and formation of charitable entities, including structure and documentation of charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, supporting organizations, private foundations, tax-exempt organizations and public charities.
• Estate planning with retirement assets including planning for minimum required distributions, generation-skipping tax planning and conduit trusts, spousal rollovers, inherited IRAs, preparation of beneficiary designations and structuring charitable gifts.
• Trust and estate administration and litigation, including trust terminations and modifications, will and trust contests, claims against trusts and estates, charitable gift reformation, guardianships and conservatorships.
• Preparation of estate tax returns, gift tax returns and income tax returns for trusts and estates.
• Resolution of tax controversies with the Internal Revenue Service and Missouri and Kansas taxing authorities.
• Negotiation and preparation of premarital agreements and related instruments.
• Formation of basic C corporations, S corporations, limited liability companies, limited partnerships and partnerships.
• Perfection of security interests through security agreements and uniform commercial code filings.

• Panelist, "Key Points to Consider When Selling Your Business," U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management, March 28, 2023

• The Missouri Bar
• American Bar Association