Overview

Lacie is a partner with the firm’s Tax and Wealth Management section. She has a Master of Laws in Taxation and over a decade of specialized experience in both public accounting and extensively, in the legal profession. Lacie’s practice encompasses all areas of taxation, including individual and business income and transfer tax planning, ERISA, estate planning, executive compensation, non-profits, Subchapters C & S, mergers and acquisitions, employee benefits (including the Affordable Care Act) and IRS and tax court controversy practice. Lacie designs and implements individually-designed owner dominated pension and profit sharing programs for owners of closely held businesses; she also has extensive experience dealing with the Internal Revenue Service on ERISA and related matters. Lacie works closely with families and entrepreneurs on multi-generational wealth preservation and transfers and the related tax consequences. Lacie’s vast tax background gives her the ability to work on diverse issues in addition to her specialty areas – for example, she has developed a niche in New Market Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits, having worked on many of the large development programs in the Northeast Ohio area.

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Experience

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS & ERISA

• Consults on qualified plan design, including defined benefit/defined contribution combinations.

• Drafts and implements individually designed qualified plans.

• Handles qualified plan audits by the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. and interfaces with Internal Revenue Service to obtain qualification letters for the plans.

• Consults on and facilitates qualified plan corrections.

• Drafts and consults on employee benefit plans, including 125 Plans.

• Designs, drafts, and implements non-qualified deferred compensation, stock options, restricted stock plans.

• Implements IRA and other retirement strategies.

• Affordable Care Act compliance and consultation.

ESTATE PLANNING

• Consults and handles matters involving estate and wealth planning for owners and operators of closely held and family businesses.

• Works closely with high net worth individuals and their families.

• Works with multiple generations to assure that plans are implemented properly.

• Estate and Trust administration.

• Charitable giving and planning, including use of split interest trusts, CLATs and CRUTs.

FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL TAX

• Structures and facilitates the purchase and sales of businesses to minimize tax burden.

• Designs compensation, benefits and qualified plan systems for closely held and family businesses to maximize benefits and minimize costs.

• Structures optimal entity selection, accounting periods, and methods and situs of closely held entities to reduce tax exposure for entrepreneurial businesses.

• Internal Revenue Service, state, and local practice.

• Manages family business and other shareholder disputes.

• Works closely with individuals and their families to design and implement multi-generational estate and wealth planning strategies.

• Estate and Trust administration.

• Affordable Care Act compliance and consultation.

• Consults and opines on development deals that utilize Historic and New Market Tax Credits and Conservation Easements.

• Income tax planning for litigation settlements and FICA/FUTA concerns.

• Charitable giving and planning, including use of split interest trusts, CLATs and CRUTs.

• Advises and assists non-profit entities, including foundations, with obtaining, maintaining and reinstating tax-exempt status.

HISTORIC AND NEW MARKETS TAX CREDITS

• Consults and opines on development deals that utilize Historic and New Market Tax Credits.

Recognition

• June 23, 2014 – Lacie was recognized for her achievements in the area of Tax Law in a special section of Crain’s Cleveland Business, titled “Who to Watch in Law.”

• 2011 – Selected to Ohio Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. Areas of practice: Estate Planning & Probate; Tax; Employee Benefits/ERISA.

Recent Articles

• Confidential Settlements of Sexual Harassment Claims are No Longer Tax Deductible
• Bloodline trusts need to flex for future generations
• Revocable Trusts Offer More Control Over Distribution of Retirement Assets

Presentations

• “Grantor Trusts,” presentation given at National Business Institute (NBI) Seminar, Cleveland, Ohio, June 19, 2014.

• “Grantor Trusts,” presentation given at National Business Institute (NBI) Seminar (“Estate Planning from A to Z”), Independence, Ohio, October 22, 2013.

• “The Affordable Health Care Act: Guidance for Employers,” co-presenter in program at the office of Walter | Haverfield LLP, Cleveland, Ohio, March 26, 2013.

• “Understanding and Drafting Wills and Trusts,” Sterling Education Services seminar, Cleveland, Ohio, September 21, 2012.

• “Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts” and “Grantor Trusts,” presentations given at National Business Institute (NBI) Seminar, Cleveland, Ohio, June 19, 2012.

• “Setting up Fido for Life: Estate Planning for Pet Owners,” through the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, on September 19, 2007.

Associations

• Ohio State Bar Association
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
• Tax Club of Cleveland
• Estate Planning Council