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The 111th General Assembly adjourned on June 19, 2020 after passing an amended state budget drafted in response to steep funding deficits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon return from the spring legislative recess, House and Senate leadership agreed to address an abbreviated agenda of bills p...

After an unusual election season, we head into 2021 with President-Elect Joe Biden, a House controlled by the Democratic Party and an undecided Senate.  The Republican Party will have to win one of the two Senate seats in the Georgia runoff in January 2021 to keep control of the Senate.  If not, ...

We all recognize this quote from the uncle of your favorite web slinger, Spider-Man, but this isn't just a pop culture idea or even a new one. From Winston Churchill to Voltaire to the French National Convention in 1973, some version of this saying has circulated throughout history. You can even ...

Almost everyone engages in some form of asset protection.  For example, a high-risk spouse may put assets in the name of a low-risk spouse or else in their joint name.  Another example is that most people own businesses in a corporation or limited liability company to isolate the liabilities of t...

A Qualified Personal Residence Trust (“QPRT”) is a type of irrevocable trust that takes ownership of your home, thereby providing some estate tax planning and asset protection benefits.  As an “irrevocable” trust, the creator of the trust (often called the “grantor”) transfers ownership of the ho...

The pandemic brought by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has taken the lives of almost 200,000 Americans since March. As of the time of this writing, we have lost over 2,000 Tennesseans alone: 2,000 or more Tennesseans whose surviving families are now having to potentially navigate the probate pr...

Since the mid-1990s, the formation of limited liability companies has increased significantly in Tennessee and Georgia.  As described below, this makes sense.  LLCs allow taxpayers to take advantage of limited personal liability for business obligations while also offering simplified, and perhaps...

As expected, the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) created by the CARES Act rolled out on April 3, 2020 with a thud.  Without regulations, we thus far only have an “interim final rule” from the SBA to explain a little more about the PPP and the fact that many banks either are not ready to imple...

On Friday, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES” Act) into law.  The CARES Act contains provisions regarding stimulus checks, expanded unemployment insurance benefits, expanded FMLA and EPSL benefits from the FFCRA (see my article from last week), mor...

Many clients have reached out to me for help understanding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Act”).  In an effort to efficiently provide information to as many people as possible, I am using this blog format rather than individualized emails.  As such, this blog is not intended to...

“Once you push send, you can never take it back.”  You've probably heard this phrase 100 times, but have you ever considered it in the context of a real property contract?  Most likely not, but it almost happened in Tennessee as evidenced by a recent Tennessee Court of Appeals opinion issued in A...

Being charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) can be harrowing and you should not face criminal charges without legal assistance. Litchford, Pearce & Associates, PLLC, understands you may have immediate questions. This article attempts to provide some preliminary information while you assess your situation. If you have further questions, you are encouraged to contact the attorneys at Litchford, Pearce & Associates, PLLC, to schedule a free consultation at 423-529-5290 or [email protected].