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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.

Presentations

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

Client Alerts and Blog Posts

Professional Affiliations

  • The Missouri Bar
  • American Bar Association
Photo of Phillip K. Johnson
F: 816.292.2001

Assistant

Tina Hecke
816.460.5849

Court Memberships

  • Kansas
  • Missouri

Education

Cornell University Law School,
J.D., 1999

University of Missouri-Columbia, B.A., 1994

Languages

Spanish