Attorney Fee Deferral with feeMaster
As a trial lawyer, you can strategically plan for your contingency fees around taxes, life’s milestones, and retirement goals. Gain control of your income with Milestone’s feeMaster, the premier attorney fee deferral program.
Defer your fees. Plan for taxes.
With feeMaster, you can defer your contingency fees into payments over time in a tailored schedule. Attorney fee deferral, also called attorney fee structure, is a smart investment option to manage wealth, plan the cash flow of your law firm, and/or protect yourself from a higher tax bracket.
When You Structure Your Attorney Fee:
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Milestone’s feeMaster team is made of attorneys, financial and settlement experts, and fiduciaries. We’re committed to creating the best plan for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How will fee deferral affect my taxes?
Structuring an attorney fee breaks up a large lump sum into a schedule of payments over time. In Richard A. Childs, Et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that attorneys who structure their fees only have to pay taxes on the payments they receive in a given year.
How do I get started deferring my fees?
To defer a fee, you must not have constructive receipt of the money. As part of the settlement with the defendants and/or their insurers, your contingency fee must be a term of settlement that allows you to create a periodic payment obligation and defer some or all of your fee. The defendants/insurers would issue your fee payable to the selected assignment company. If a 468b qualified settlement fund (QSF) is established, your contingency fee must be a term of settlement that allows your fees to be payable into the QSF, which would then issue your deferred fee to the selected assignment company.
What type of fees can I defer?
Attorneys can defer any contingency fee from a physical or non-physical injury tort settlement.
If I worked on the case with another attorney, am I still eligible to defer my fee?
You can structure your fees even if you worked on a case with another attorney. Each attorney can decide whether to receive their portion of the fee in a lump sum or to defer into a unique payment schedule.
How will Milestone help me strategize my deferral arrangement?
When you’re considering fee deferral, Milestone will customize a strategy to you, your family, and your business. We work in lockstep with you to construct a distribution schedule accounting for factors such as your age, lifestyle, retirement goals, and more. The feeMaster program incorporates your ideal vision of the future.
Periodic payment obligations are customizable. You decide the length of time to defer the fee, so wealth accumulates and becomes available at the perfect time. Payments are made either to you or to your firm.
