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Tom  Kelley

Tom Kelley

Attorney

Many clients come to Tom with legal issues that they just don’t understand. Tom has a knack for translating complex legal matters into a language the client can easily comprehend, which helps ease any uncertainty they might have. Once that’s accomplished, Tom and his client can get to work finding a solution. It’s this partnership that helps Tom represent the client most effectively, whether the issue at hand is estate planning, estate/trust administration, federal/state taxation, privacy and data security concerns, cyber security concerns or regulatory compliance.


Success Stories:

Tom received a call from a single Client with no children, an educator, who had substantial investments and real estate and wanted to provide for her ailing mother as well as for the education of her extended family.  The Client had been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis was dire.  Tom visited with the Client and explained how a trust could provide for her ailing mother as well as the education of her extended family.  Tom’s ability to quickly translate complex trust and estate planning matters into a language the Client could easily comprehend allowed the Client the peace of mind of knowing that her ailing mother and extended family had been provided for as she dealt with her final illness.

Understanding the estate planning process can provide Clients the peace of mind to focus on the other challenges they face in life.

Tom represented a Client in the financial services industry.  The Client called Tom, in somewhat of a panic, and advised that an employee’s email account had been compromised.  Tom worked with the Client to put an immediate protocol into place to address the cyber security incident.  By working with the Client to provide an immediate, reasoned response to the cyber security incident, Tom was able to assist the Client in emerging from the event with little or no media attention and no significant harm to its reputation or loss of clients.

Quick assessment of a cyber security incident, coupled with an understanding of the components of an immediate, appropriate response, can assist a Client in emerging from a potentially damaging cyber security incident with little or no media attention and no significant harm to its reputation or loss of clients.

Education
  • Notre Dame Law School (J.D., Magna Cum Laude, 1989)
  • Creighton University (B.A., 1986)
Admissions
  • Nebraska (1992: Sustaining Member)
  • Iowa (2007)
  • Illinois (1989 (Inactive Member))
  • Certified Public Accountant Certificate (Inactive)
08/22/2023

McGrath North's Team Receives Broad Recognition from The Best Lawyers in America® 2024

 


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08/19/2022

PRACTICE GROUP SPOTLIGHT: Tax, Trusts and Estates

 


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12/8/22

McGrath North Hosts Privacy & Data Protection Summit

On December 6, 2022, McGrath North held its Privacy & Data Protection Summit at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The over 100 attendees from almost 70 companies at the half-day event had the opportunity to hear speakers and panelists, including guest experts from the industry, share insights on key topics including:  


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11/05/2020

15th Annual Seminar For Accounting Professionals

 


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Publications

More Publications
03/28/2024

Retirement Accounts and Spousal Consent

Given the prevalence of blended families in today’s society, oftentimes estate planning counsel and financial planners work with married (or soon to be married) clients where one spouse may not wish to name their spouse (or future spouse) the primary beneficiary of their respective individual retirement account and/or company qualified retirement plan account. This situation may arise where a significant portion of such spouse’s net worth resides in such accounts and the spouse wants all or a portion of such account to be passed down to his or her biological children rather than his or her current spouse who is not the biological parent of such children. Such clients may not realize that individual retirement accounts differ from company qualified retirement plan accounts with respect to the potential requirement of “spousal consent.”  


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08/26/2022

The Challenge Of Cryptocurrency Tax Reporting – Clients Shoot For The Moon While Tax Preparers Seek Strong Footing Here On The Ground

It is clear that the IRS is increasingly focused on tax reporting for cryptocurrencies, which the IRS classifies as property rather than currency. (See Notice 2014-21, 2014-16 IRB 938). Last tax season, tax preparers, along with their clients, in many cases struggled getting accurate cryptocurrency transaction records. In some circumstances, preparers charged clients higher return preparation fees if the return included any cryptocurrency-related transactions even though the client might only have been dabbling in cryptocurrency transactions as a sideline.  


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  • Omaha Bar Association
  • Nebraska State Bar Association
  • Iowa State Bar Association
  • American Bar Association
  • Nebraska Society of CPAs
  • Omaha Estate Planning Council
  • International Association of Privacy Professionals
  • Listed: “Best Lawyers in America”, Privacy and Data Security Law, Tax Law
  • “Best Lawyers in America” Omaha Lawyer of the Year, Tax Law, 2016
  • Listed: Martindale-Hubbell, AV/Preeminent Rating
  • Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®)
  • Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US), International Association of Privacy Professionals
  • Articles Editor, Notre Dame Law Review
  • Beta Gamma Sigma
  • Beta Alpha Psi
  • Phi Alpha Theta