Law Blog - Dodson Parker Behm & Capparella, PC

Don’t Forget to Define Separate Property in Your Prenup

Many prenuptial agreements contemplate that one spouse will receive alimony, and it is difficult to imagine a prenup that does not establish an intention to delineate between separate and marital property. However, a failure to define terms can result in confusion. The recent Tennessee Court of Appeals case Seifert v. Seifert presented just such a situation. In Seifert, the parties’...

Avoiding Private Foundation 507(c) Termination Tax Means Less Pain for the Gain

Becky Farr Seidel of the Leaffer Law Group wrote a great piece recently for Bloomberg BNA’s Estates, Gifts and Trusts Journal addressing issues in terminating private foundations. Here are some salient points, and you can read the entire article here. Unlike other 501(c)(3) entities, private foundations are subject to additional stringent regulations under Chapter 42 of the Code. For that...

Guidance Issued for Private Foundations with Foreign Grantees

New guidance for private foundations from the IRS addresses treatment of foreign grantees. The groups may wish to treat grants to foreign grantees as qualifying distributions that satisfy the minimum distribution requirements rather than as expenditures requiring expenditure responsibility. If a private foundation makes a “good faith determination” that a foreign grantee qualifies as a...

No Medical Deduction for IVF Expenses; I.R.C. § 213 Doesn’t Apply for All Surrogacy Situations

Under I.R.C. § 213, a deduction is available for medical services provided to a taxpayer, his/her spouse, and dependents. But this doesn’t mean that all IVF procedures and other pregnancy-related costs are covered simply because the taxpayer’s dependent is ultimately conceived by virtue of the procedures… Joseph Morrissey and his partner decided to try to have children...

How Trump’s Tax Proposal Affects You

Trump’s new tax proposal makes some changes that could affect your estate planning. Both the estate and generation-skipping taxes get the boot. What about stepped up basis under I.R.C. § 1014? R.C. § 1014 provides that, for most property, a decedent’s beneficiaries receive a step up in basis to fair market value at the decedent’s date of death. Thus far, the proposed changes don’t affect...

Proposed Minority Discount Regulations Bite the Dust

Practitioners had been worried that the Section 2704 proposed regulations were going to affect minority discount valuations for gift and estate tax purposes. Worry no more.The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Second Report to the President on Identifying and Reducing Tax Regulatory Burdens, Executive Order 13789, October 2, 2017, notes that the main difficulty with the proposed...

Timing, Sophistication of Parties Key Factors in Prenup Enforceability

The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently reinforced longstanding principles in determining the enforceability of prenuptial agreements. Among the factors a court examines carefully in determining whether a prenup will be upheld are the timing of the presentation of the document and the relative experiences of the parties in terms of age and educational background. Failure to account for these...

Who has standing to bring claim when single-member LLC is dissolved?

Typically, an LLC’s status as a distinct legal entity means that the members have no interest in specific LLC property. Any legal cause of action must be brought by the LLC. However, what happens when a single-member LLC has been dissolved? Can the member bring an action in his individual capacity to recover on a contract entered into by the LLC? Yes. In Bowers v. Estate of Mounger...

SSA Changes Policy; Reasons for Benefit Denial Will Be Made Available to Applicants

Historically, notices from the Social Security Administration often contained no explanation as to why certain resources, including trust assets, were deemed “countable” for determining benefit eligibility. A new SSA directive changes this policy The SSA’s new directive now requires its employees to provide additional information to applicants who are denied benefits. The field...

Beware the Anti-Lapse Statute

For generations, law students and practitioners alike have scratched their heads over “lapsed legacies” in will cases. A recent Tennessee Court of Appeals case serves as a refresher on the subject. Estate planners, take note… At common law, when a person who would take under a will predeceases the testator, the legacy lapsed. The “anti-lapse” statute, Tenn. Code...

More Traps for the Unwary in MedMal Cases

Timing is everything when it comes to adding alleged comparative tortfeasors. Unfortunately, this lesson is too often learned the hard way. Where medical malpractice is concerned, the lack of coordination between the drafters of the Health Care Liability Act with the statute allowing a comparative tortfeasor to be added within 90 days of their being identified in an answer adds yet another...

Generation Skipping Tax: Should It Stay or Should It Go?

The Generation Skipping Transfer Tax is one of the more complicated (some might say draconian) features of the estate-planning world. Not surprisingly, cries to amend it are perennial. And now, it looks like there may be some movement. An article in Bloomberg BNA’s, July 3, 2017 Tax Management Weekly Report does a good job of addressing the various arguments for and against the GST changes...

Drafting a Will? Watch out for Beneficiary Designations Made Prior to Divorce or Annulment

Despite a legislative effort to make changes in beneficiary designations automatic on annulment or divorce, estate planning and divorce attorneys are still tasked with advising clients regarding beneficiary designations. When you die, your insurance company will pay your designated beneficiary…even if that beneficiary is your ex-spouse. And, yes, this is true even if that means your...