2023 Trusted Advisers: David K. Olive

As a specialized attorney in business taxation, estate planning and marijuana law, Carnahan Evans PC shareholder David K. Olive stays on top of legal changes affecting his clients. For Missouri’s new and highly regulated marijuana industry, that meant preparing and reviewing applications for cultivation, manufacturing and dispensary licenses in a highly competitive process for a limited number of winners.

“The applications required an in-depth knowledge of security regulations, safety regulations, as well as other requirements,” Olive says. “Many of the applications that we reviewed – and 100% of the applications that our firm prepared – won licenses, and now those clients own licenses and operate businesses that have substantial value.”

It’s part of his role managing 100-150 clients with annual billings last year in the $450,000 range. Olive’s client load has doubled since 2020.

“I specialize in providing tax and legal advice to local and family-owned businesses, represent clients in buying and selling their business, and assist families with complex estate and business succession planning,” he says.

For example, with the mid-2022 passage of the Missouri SALT Parity Act, Olive navigated the new law to help businesses and their owners pay less in combined income taxes.

“Under this law, qualifying owners of an electing S-corporation or partnership are eligible for certain tax credits if they meet certain requirements,” he says. “We were able to work with clients to determine if they qualify and take advantage of significant tax savings.”

He also practices law under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, for instance, working with employer-sponsored retirement plans such as 401(k)s.

“This includes troubleshooting complex plan errors, amending plans for changes in the laws, and working with employers to make sure their retirement plans are administered in a compliant manner,” Olive says.

On the estate planning side, he handles the traditional revocable trusts, wills and powers of attorney documents but also strives to design and implement more sophisticated techniques, such as qualified personal residence trusts, grantor retained annuity trusts, charitable remainder trusts, family limited partnerships and private foundations. The work includes clients with high-value estates that are required to file federal estate tax returns, which he says can be complex when preparing asset valuations and maximizing tax savings.

Outside of the office, Olive is a board member for the Greene County Estate Planning Council, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Southwest Missouri and Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, for which he also serves as treasurer.

“It has been a very exciting year for CASA, as we just completed a very large capital campaign and were able to purchase and build a new office building for the staff as well as a clubhouse that will be invaluable to provide a safe environment for children in foster care,” Olive says.