Estate Planning and Pets
Many families fail to address the needs of their pets when undertaking estate planning. Pets and other animals such as livestock are considered personal property and pass as such under an individual's will, unless there are specific provisions dealing with pets or animals. Only a small percentage of pet owners include provisions for their pets in their estate planning documents. This places a burden on executors, administrators, and family members in making decisions about the care and custody of pets following their owner's death. Tennessee and Virginia have each adopted a version of the Uniform Trust Code dealing with trusts for
Recent Change to Tennessee Statute Governing Retirement and Pension Plans Impacts Divorce Cases
An important change impacting divorce proceedings in Tennessee has been made to the Tennessee statute which governs retirement and pension plans. As of July 1, 2015, T.C.A. § 26-2-105(d)(1) now provides that "a local government that establishes and maintains for its employees a qualified plan, and the qualified plan's administrator, shall honor claims under a qualified domestic relations order, if the order relates only to the provisions of marital property rights for the benefit of the former spouse of the qualified plan's participant. "This is a significant change in the area of public employee law and domestic relations as, prior