Business - BBFCS Law

Exciting new name BBFCS: Boston Bever Forrest Cross & Sickmann

Amy Oler — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 16:37:26 +0000

New Name, Same Attorneys, Same Quality Representation, Still the Largest Firm Serving Wayne and Surrounding Counties. Please bear with us as our website changes with our new name.

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BBFCS Partner, Ron Cross, Steps Down as President of the Indiana Municipal Lawyers Association

Amy Oler — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:23:53 +0000

Following a busy spring of Indiana Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA) activities and events, BBFCS partner Ron Cross concluded his term of office as the president of IMLA at its annual June meeting held in Carmel, Indiana. The annual meeting was part of the IMLA’s Municipal Law Seminar XXXVI. Membership of the association consists of approximately three hundred fifty (350) Indiana attorneys whose practices involve, to some degree, the representation of Indiana cities, towns, township, counties and/or other public entities. Ron is pictured here receiving a plaque from Jodie Woods, IMLA Executive Director and General Counsel to Accelerating Indiana Municipalities (“AIM”), in recognition of his service in 2018-2019 as president of the association. Ron will continue to be a member of the IMLA Board of Directors serving in an ex-officio capacity as Immediate Past President.

In March of 2019, Ron, along with several other Indiana attorneys, attended the International Municipal Lawyers Associations mid-year four-day conference in Washington, D.C. That event was attended by over three hundred (300) municipal lawyers from across the nation who attended presentations on multiple legal challenges and issues facing municipalities in all states, covering topics including the ability of an agency to regulate cell tower and small communication devices; recent developments in the SEC’s governance of public debt issues; and updates on pertinent state and federal case law developments and US Supreme Court decisions.

If you or your public agency is in need of legal advice or consultation, contact Ron or any of the other BBFCS attorneys who represent municipalities in the greater Wayne County area, including attorneys Bob Bever, Adam Forrest, AJ Sickmann or Walt Chidester.

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Ron Cross – BBFCS Attorney to Lead Indiana Municipal Lawyers Association

bbfcswordpress — Fri, 29 Jun 2018 18:21:02 +0000

At its annual meeting held June 21, 2018, in Noblesville, Indiana, BBFCS partner Ron Cross was elected by the Board of Directors of the Indiana Municipal Lawyers Association (“IMLA”) to serve as president of the IMLA for its 2018-2019 fiscal year. Ron is currently serving a second three-year term on the IMLA Board of Directors. The IMLA is an association of approximately three hundred fifty (350) Indiana attorneys whose practices entail to a significant degree the representation of Indiana cities, towns, counties or other such public bodies. Should you require consultation regarding legal issues facing such a public entity, please call Ron or any of the other members of the BBFCS municipal law group, Bob Bever, AJ Sickmann, Adam Forrest and Walt Chidester.

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Bob Bever Named into Organization of “Lawyers of Distinction”.

bbfcswordpress — Thu, 10 May 2018 18:13:58 +0000

Congratulations to Bob Bever with being named into the organization of “Lawyers of Distinction”, a group that honors the top 10% of attorneys around the nation in their respective fields. Bob’s honor fields are “Corporate law and Transactions”.

Member: Robert Bever, Corporate and Transactional Law www.bbkcc.com

Robert L. (Bob) Bever is a partner with Boston Bever Klinge Cross & Chidester; is a 1975 graduate of DePauw University with distinction and a 1978 Graduate of Indiana University Law School, Indianapolis, Magna Cum Laude. His practice centers on business and commercial transactions; estate planning and administration; banking and municipal law. Clients include numerous local businesses (being involved in numerous multimillion dollar transactions), banks, civic organizations, and he represents BSN Sports, LLC, nationally in its business acquisitions around the nation. He also served as Richmond City Attorney from 1995 – 2003. Honors include being inducted into the Eastern Indiana Business Hall of Fame in 2016; being inducted into Whos Who in American Law; and is the recipient of the Sagamore of the Wabash, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the Governor of Indiana. He has also served as President of the local Chamber of Commerce and as Chair of the local Republican party.

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BBFCS Partner Thanked for Over Forty Years of Service to Client

bbfcswordpress — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 18:03:57 +0000

BBFCS partner attorney Ron Cross is pictured above as he is presented a plaque from Ms. Dixie Robinson, president of the Richmond Community Schools Board of School Trustees. The surprise recognition commemorated Ron’s more than forty (40) consecutive years of service as chief legal counsel to Richmond Community Schools. Ron began his representation of RCS in 1977 while then affiliated with the former Richmond law firm of Reller, Mendenhall, Kleinknecht & Milligan. Over the next forty years Ron estimates that he has attended more than 1,500 school board meetings and worked with more than 12 different superintendents. Ron’s representation includes almost all areas of law that impact public education from labor and employment law to aspects of regulatory compliance. For more than 12 years Ron served as the chief negotiator on the RCS collective bargaining team that negotiated collective bargaining agreements with the RCS teachers’ association. Ron continues to represent RCS and other school corporations in the Wayne County area. The attorneys at BBFCS are chief counsel for several school corporations in the greater Richmond/Wayne County area. Please contact them if you have any legal needs related to public education.

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City of Richmond to Start 2017 With New Attorney

bbfcswordpress — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 18:00:56 +0000

City of Richmond to start 2017 with new attorney, Andrew J. Sickmann.

Rachel E. Sheeley , rsheeley@richmond.gannett.com 5:08 a.m. EST December 11, 2016

Walt Chidester – After 13 years as the City of Richmond’s attorney, Walter “Walt” Chidester is stepping down from the role. His successor, hired at the Dec. 8 at the Board of Works and Public Safety meeting, will be Andrew J. “A.J.” Sickmann. Sickmann will begin his term as city attorney on Jan. 1. Chidester and Sickmann are both members of the Richmond law firm, Boston Bever Klinge Cross & Chidester.

“Walt is sort of an icon figure of city government,” said Mayor Dave Snow. “We have been preparing for this for a while.”

Chidester will remain associated with the city, working with the Sanitary District. He also will continue his private practice. However, Chidester and his wife are planning to spend more time with their grandchildren and to do more traveling. Chidester became city attorney under Democrat Mayor Sally Hutton and served with her during her three terms. When Hutton died in April, Chidester was one of those who eulogized her. Snow, a Democrat who succeeded Hutton, asked Chidester to remain with the city one more year to ease the transition.

“My job has been made easier over the years by being surrounded by good people,” Chidester told the board of works.

Chidester expects the city to be well served by Sickmann. “I’m exited, humbled, to serve the city I care so much about,” Sickmann said. “I will do my absolute level best.”

“I think A.J. is going to do a fantastic job,” Snow said.

Sickman is being hired by the city for a salary not to exceed $43,636, to be paid in monthly installments of $3,636.

A 2004 Richmond High School graduate, Sickmann graduated in 2008 from Ball State University and in 2011 from Valparaiso University School of Law. While attending law school, Sickmann worked as a summer associate for Boston Bever Klinge Cross & Chidester, which he joined after passing the bar exam. Sickmann’s practice primarily includes family, municipal, commercial and criminal law. He has served as attorney for the towns of Milton and Spring Grove, and also as assistant attorney for Wayne County government. He is licensed to practice law in Indiana, and in the U.S. District Court in both the Southern and Northern Districts of Indiana.

Sickmann is the president of the Wayne County Historical Museum board and vice president of the Whitewater Valley Pro Bono Commission. In 2014, Sickmann was honored with the annual Pro Bono Award for handling dozens of pro bono cases throughout the year. He also serves on the board of Communities in Schools for Wayne County.

Chidester is a graduate of Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, and received his law degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. He began his law practice with Legal Services Organization of Indiana Inc. and was the managing attorney of the Whitewater Valley Office of Legal Services. He joined the law firm of Reller, Mendenhall, Kleinknecht & Milligan in 1981 and remained there until the formation of the law firm of Boston Bever Klinge Cross & Chidester in 1998.

In addition to serving as the city attorney since 2004, Chidester was attorney for the Wayne County Welfare Department for 10 years and served as a deputy prosecuting attorney in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.

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BBFCS Part of Successful Defense Team Protecting Interests of Indiana Farmers

bbfcswordpress — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 17:58:55 +0000

BBFCS partner Ron Cross was part of the team of lawyers who successfully defended a national swine producing enterprise in a series of five separate lawsuits that were filed in nearby Randolph County, Indiana.

The suits were brought on behalf of residents located near the sites of several of the facilities alleging that the operations were nuisances due to alleged odors, flies and other such conditions emanating from the farms. The swine producing operations were mostly owned by private Indiana farmers under contract with the national integrator.

The defense team was led by a firm from Washington, D.C., and involved litigation through the trial court and Indiana appellate courts. The several plaintiffs were represented by out of state attorneys who specialize in such litigation and have targeted larger agricultural operations (CAFOs / CFOs) in such law suits. The defendants obtained summary judgment in their favor in each of the five cases. Four of the cases were appealed by the plaintiffs to the Indiana Court of Appeals, but the appeals were withdrawn without an appellate ruling and without any settlement or compromise from the defendants. The litigation affirmed Indiana’s commitment to its agricultural economic base and to the protection of farm operations from claims of nuisance arising from odors and other such conditions that are inherent in most agricultural activities, as stated in Indiana’s Right to Farm Act.

If you have issues involving land use, whether agricultural or otherwise, contact the attorneys at BBFCS to discuss your case.

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Passing On the “Family” Business–While Keeping Both Successful and Happy

bbfcswordpress — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:36:34 +0000

I am often confronted with a client who has created a successful business and asks, “How can I keep this in my family after my retirement or death”? Needless to say, there are no easy answers and no guarantees of success, but progress can begin by at least asking the question. The biggest mistake I see – though often understandable – is simply being too busy with “work” to think about what happens in the future.

Generally, dad and/or mom have worked their entire lives to make the business successful and gradually one or more of the children have come on board to assist with services, and hopefully, ultimately management. Much depends upon the age and interest (not to mention talent) of the children, but if at least one child has become involved, consideration should be given to business succession within the family.

Before looking into how the business might be transferred to a family member either at death or retirement, care should first be given to how the children are being involved at present. The successful business owner with a child involved needs to ask the following questions:

1. Is my child truly interested in the long run to be involved in the business? Unfortunately, I have seen too many situations where dad or mom so dearly want the child to be involved, but the interest is not there. If this occurs, accept the fact and consider the alternatives. Is there another good non-family manager who is qualified to take over and who has the finances, at least over time, to purchase the business? The sale of a successful business is better for a family than seeing it diminished with a non-interested second generation owner.

2. Is my child appropriately involved at the present time? While experience is certainly first needed, some business owners wait too long to add management responsibilities to their children’s duties. If your business is a corporation, consider adding a child to the Board of Directors or as an officer. If the business is a partnership, consider making the child a partner, even with a minority interest, prior to leaving your own involvement. If you are a sole proprietor, consider creating an entity which would allow partial decision-making with the children. (Needless to say, the choice of entity has other far reaching ramifications, which can be discussed later.) Put simply, just make sure the children learn the management side of the business while you are around to help do the teaching.

3. Can financial ownership be currently transferred without relinquishing control? This question may be asked more than any other question by my clients. A parent may be ready to transfer ownership of the company to a child – either to assist the child financially or for estate planning purposes – but is not ready to relinquish control of the business to the child. This can be done and can be done in a variety of ways, depending upon the circumstances. Transfers of a minority interest within the business, either of stock in a corporation or a minority interest in a partnership or LLC, can be considered. The transfer can be through either compensation or through gifting, and various tax factors need to be considered regarding this choice.

There also exists more specialized methods for even transferring majority ownership interest, while retaining control. These include creating two classes of stock (voting and non-voting) in a corporation; creating a limited family partnership with the parent being the “general” partner and the children “limited” partners for ownership and distributions. Each of these have separate pros and cons, and separate articles could be written about each. Just remember that options do exist. Regarding the ultimate transfer of a business at retirement or death, more questions need to be asked by the successful business owner. These include the following:

1. Do I want my involved child to “pay” for the future ownership of the company? This may sound strange, with most clients trying to determine how to “give away” a business to a family member during life or death, with limited tax consequences, but a number of clients believe it is better for a child to pay for this opportunity. This may be especially true if there are other non-involved children, or more importantly, if mom and dad need this payment to live on financially after the business is transferred. There are, of course, other methods to keep the parents compensated, including “consulting fees”; continued minority interest ownership until death; pension plans; etc. However, “to pay” or “not to pay” is a legitimate first question. The result can also be for less than fair market value legally, although there may also be tax consequences from this choice.

2. Can I make a trust or will transfer dependent upon a child’s current involvement in the company? I have recently written a number of wills and trusts which make the timing of a business transfer dependent upon the age or experience of a child with a company. The interest until such time can be held by an independent trustee, a non-family manager of the business, or even other family members. At such time that a certain age or experience level is reached, the child could then be qualified to receive his or her transfer in the business. Consideration might also be given in such a situation to children who are not currently involved, but may later in their older years wish to become involved in the business.

3. If I have both involved and non-involved children, do I . . .

a. Give equal ownership to all children regardless of their involvement? (This may sound good, but I have unfortunately seen many situations where resentment can occur and family businesses flounder if a local involved child with the business is treated in similar fashion to an out-of-town non-involved child with other interests. While this may be prompted by good intentions, I am afraid more times than not this is not a good result.)

b. If I give the business only to the children involved, do I offset this bequest with other property of equal value to my other non-involved children, or do I “reward” the involved children with this business gift before I divide other assets equally? (The middle ground is also possible, with a required “payment” or “debit” to the involved child for less than fair market value regarding the business gift.)

c. Do I take into account that the non-involved child may later wish to become involved? (There are some specialized procedures which can be utilized here to make future bequests possible if later involvement occurs.)

I realize the length of this article does not allow specialized discussion of all possibilities to accomplish successful business succession planning; however, my goal has been to simply raise the appropriate questions and provide some ideas for decisions as you consider the possible future of your family owned business.

The information and opinions expressed in this article are for information only and are not to be construed as legal advice to any particular person or situation. Any specific factual situation should be reviewed by competent legal counsel of your choosing and the author hereby disclaims any responsibility or liability which might be asserted arising from reliance upon the enclosed information.

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