Plaintiff attorneys face a range of unique challenges when it comes to taxes. While large settlements are reason for celebration, they also result in substantial contingency fees, which can cause major income fluctuations—and drive up your taxable income.
While traditional retirement accounts and attorney fee deferral strategies can help reduce taxable income, these tools come with limitations.
Attorney feeSaver™ was developed to solve these challenges. By combining two long-standing financial strategies into one integrated solution, Attorney feeSaver™ helps eligible plaintiff attorneys reduce—and effectively eliminate—income taxes on legal fees while creating long-term tax-free income.
Tax Challenges Faced by Plaintiff Attorneys with Contingent Fees
Plaintiff attorneys face a range of unique challenges when it comes to taxes. While large settlements are reason for celebration, they also result in substantial contingency fees, which can cause major income fluctuations—and drive up your taxable income.
Tax-advantaged retirement tools like 401(k)s and IRAs can delay taxes, but they don’t fully address all of the tax concerns of plaintiff attorneys, due to:
- Annual contribution limits
- Employee participation requirements
- Restrictions on accessing funds
- Required minimum distributions (RMDs) in certain plans
- Limited flexibility for high-income earners
As a result, many attorneys explore alternative tax planning solutions designed specifically for high-income professionals.
Two Existing Tax Planning Strategies for Attorneys
1. Attorney Fee Deferrals
Rather than receiving the entire contingency fee at once—and facing the resulting tax burden—attorneys can elect to receive payments over time through a structured settlement annuity or other qualified fee-deferral arrangements. This approach can spread taxable income across multiple years, improve cash-flow planning, and reduce the impact of a single large income event.
Benefits of Attorney Fee Deferrals
- Immediate tax deferral of current income
- Reduced tax-rate spikes during high-income years
- Tax-deferred growth over time
- No employee participation requirements
- No contribution limits
- No required minimum distributions (RMDs)
Limitations of Attorney Fee Deferrals
Although attorney fee deferrals can be highly effective, they do come with certain drawbacks:
- Taxes are deferred, not eliminated
- Distributions are eventually taxed as ordinary income
- Some structures do not include death benefits
- Distribution timing may be difficult to change once established
For attorneys seeking more permanent tax advantages and greater flexibility, additional planning tools may be necessary.
2. Executive Benefit Planning
Executive benefit planning allows a law firm to provide select attorneys with enhanced savings, income, and protection benefits beyond traditional retirement plans.
When properly structured, the firm funds a professionally designed savings and protection strategy for the participating attorney. The arrangement can build long-term value, provide flexible access to funds, and create the potential for tax-advantaged income through policy loans and withdrawals—all while providing meaningful protection for the attorney’s family and firm.
Benefits of Executive Benefit Planning
When properly designed and administered, an executive benefit plan can provide:
- No immediate taxable income to the participating attorney
- Tax-advantaged access to accumulated value
- Potential tax-free income through properly structured distributions
- Tax-free protection for the attorney’s family
- Greater flexibility than traditional qualified retirement plans
- No traditional contribution limits based solely on age or annual retirement-plan caps
Key Eligibility and Planning Considerations
Executive benefit planning is not appropriate for every attorney. Important considerations include:
- The attorney must qualify medically and financially
- The law firm must have an appropriate employer-employee structure
- The attorney generally must receive income through an eligible business entity
- The strategy requires careful coordination among the attorney, firm, advisors, and financial institutions
- Implementation typically takes several weeks and should begin well before the funds are needed
- Results depend on proper design, ongoing administration, and long-term performance
Introducing the Ultimate Tax Planning Strategy: Attorney feeSaver™
Attorney feeSaver™ combines the strengths of attorney fee deferrals and executive benefits plans while addressing their limitations. The result is a single, integrated strategy designed specifically for high-income plaintiff attorneys.
This flexible solution allows attorneys to lower annual taxable income, build long-lasting wealth, and take the reins on their financial future.
How Attorney feeSaver™ Brings It All Together
Attorney feeSaver™ does more than defer taxes—and it does more than create another executive benefit.
To our knowledge, it is the only program designed specifically to combine attorney fee deferral and executive benefit planning into one coordinated financial strategy for high-earning plaintiff attorneys.
The fee-deferral component helps prevent a qualifying contingency fee from becoming immediately taxable when received. The executive benefit component then helps reposition that deferred value into a long-term income, savings, and protection strategy.
What makes Attorney feeSaver™ different is not simply the use of these two strategies. It is the proprietary way they are coordinated to work together as a single, integrated design.
For eligible plaintiff attorneys, that combination may help:
- Reduce or potentially eliminate taxes on qualifying contingency fees
- Preserve more of a major fee for long-term accumulation
- Create flexible, potentially tax-free retirement income
- Build substantial value outside traditional retirement-plan limits
- Provide meaningful protection for family, business partners, and succession needs
- Transform a one-time contingency fee into a lasting financial asset
Traditional attorney fee deferral may postpone taxes.
Executive benefit planning may create tax-advantaged income, savings, and protection.
Attorney feeSaver™ uniquely combines both into one powerful design—built to help eligible plaintiff attorneys address taxes now, create tax-free income later, and preserve tax-free value for the future.
It is not simply about deciding when taxes will be paid.
It is about changing what a plaintiff attorney’s fee can ultimately become.
Learn more about how it works.
Attorney feeSaver™ vs Attorney Fee Deferrals
Below are hypothetical examples illustrating how Attorney feeSaver™ may compare to more traditional approaches.
40-Year-Old Plaintiff Attorney
A 40-year-old attorney defers an average of $100,000 annually for 10 years, with plans to begin lifetime income at age 55.
The Limitations of Traditional Contingency Fee Planning
When a plaintiff attorney receives a contingency fee at settlement and invests the remaining proceeds for future needs and goals, we refer to it as a “cash out.”
Under a traditional cash-out strategy, the contingency fee is generally taxed immediately as ordinary income, leaving significantly less available to invest. The remaining funds may then face additional taxation as they grow, are distributed, and ultimately pass to the attorney’s family or other beneficiaries.
An attorney fee deferral takes a different approach. Instead of receiving the entire contingency fee at settlement, the plaintiff attorney elects to defer part or all of a qualifying fee and receive it over time.
This can postpone immediate taxation, preserve more of the fee for future growth, and allow the deferred funds to accumulate on a tax-deferred basis. However, future distributions are generally still taxed as ordinary income when received.
In Simple Terms
Cashing out can create taxes now, taxes on future growth, and taxes on the wealth ultimately transferred—taxes now, later, and potentially forever.
Traditional attorney fee deferral can provide meaningful tax advantages now and during the accumulation period—but future distributions are still generally taxable as ordinary income.
Cashing out accepts taxation throughout the process.
Traditional fee deferral postpones taxation and creates valuable tax-deferred growth.
But neither approach is designed to address taxes now, later, and potentially forever.
With Attorney feeSaver™
In this example, the plaintiff attorney elects to defer and reposition $100,000 of qualifying contingency fee income each year into a coordinated Attorney feeSaver™ design.
Based on the illustrated assumptions, the strategy could potentially provide:
- More than $8.2 million in projected tax-free lifetime income
- Over $10.1 million in projected tax-free protection for the attorney’s family
- Long-term accumulation without the annual limits imposed on traditional retirement plans
- Flexible access to future income for retirement, lifestyle, or other financial goals
- A powerful way to convert a portion of today’s contingency fees into lasting income, savings, and protection
For a younger plaintiff attorney with significant earning years ahead, time can become one of the strategy’s greatest advantages.
The longer the accumulation period, the greater the opportunity to transform annual contingency fee income into substantial tax-advantaged value for the attorney and the attorney’s family.
Read the Case Example for a 40 year-old plaintiff attorney
50-Year-Old Plaintiff Attorney
In this example, a 50-year-old plaintiff attorney elects to defer and reposition approximately $150,000 of qualifying contingency fee income annually for 10 years, with planned income beginning at age 62.
The attorney is in peak earning years, generating substantial contingency fees and facing significant current taxation. The goal is not simply to postpone taxes, but to preserve more of today’s income while building a more tax-efficient source of future retirement income and long-term family protection.
With Traditional Strategies
A traditional attorney fee deferral could postpone current taxation, preserve more of the fee for tax-deferred growth, and help spread taxable income over future years.
However, distributions would generally still be taxed as ordinary income when received. The strategy may also provide limited flexibility and does not inherently create substantial protection for the attorney’s family.
With Attorney feeSaver™
In this example, the plaintiff attorney repositions $150,000 of qualifying contingency fee income each year into a coordinated Attorney feeSaver™ design.
Based on the illustrated assumptions, the strategy could potentially provide:
- Approximately $7.1 million in projected tax-free lifetime income
- Roughly $5.7 million in projected tax-free protection for the attorney’s family
- Greater tax efficiency during retirement, when income is ultimately needed
- Flexible access to future income for retirement, lifestyle, and legacy goals
- A coordinated approach to income, savings, tax planning, and family protection
- The opportunity to convert peak earning-year contingency fees into a lasting financial asset
For a plaintiff attorney in peak earning years, the value of Attorney feeSaver™ is not dependent on starting at a very young age.
Even with a shorter accumulation period, substantial annual contingency fees can create a powerful opportunity to reduce current tax exposure, generate projected tax-free retirement income, and preserve meaningful value for the attorney’s family.
Read the Case Example for a 50 year-old plaintiff attorney
60-Year-Old Plaintiff Attorney
In this example, a 60-year-old plaintiff attorney elects to defer and reposition approximately $200,000 of qualifying contingency fee income annually for 10 years, with planned lifetime income beginning at age 70.
The attorney is approaching retirement while still earning substantial contingency fees and facing significant taxation. The objective is to preserve more of those peak earning-year fees, create a tax-efficient source of future income, and establish meaningful protection for family or business succession needs.
With Traditional Strategies
A traditional attorney fee deferral could postpone current taxation, preserve more of the fee for tax-deferred growth, and provide future income according to an established payment schedule.
However, those future distributions would generally still be taxed as ordinary income when received. Traditional deferrals may also offer limited flexibility once the payment schedule is established and do not inherently create substantial protection for the attorney’s family or business.
With Attorney feeSaver™
In this example, the plaintiff attorney repositions $200,000 of qualifying contingency fee income each year into a coordinated Attorney feeSaver™ design.
Based on the illustrated assumptions, the strategy could potentially provide:
- Approximately $5.4 million in projected tax-free lifetime income
- More than $2.2 million in projected tax-free protection at age 90
- Greater tax efficiency during retirement, when accumulated value is converted into income
- Flexible access to future funds for retirement, lifestyle, or unexpected needs
- Meaningful protection for family members or business succession planning
- The opportunity to transform late-career contingency fees into a lasting financial asset
For a plaintiff attorney approaching retirement, the planning window may be shorter—but the opportunity can still be substantial.
Attorney feeSaver™ is designed to help eligible attorneys use their remaining peak earning years to reduce current tax exposure, create projected tax-free retirement income, and preserve meaningful value beyond their lifetime.
Read the Case Example for a 60 year-old plaintiff attorney
Who Is Eligible for Attorney feeSaver™?
- Attorney feeSaver™ is designed for high-earning plaintiff attorneys with substantial contingency fee income, strong financial capacity, and an eligible law firm ownership structure.
- Qualification is based on several factors, including age, income, net worth, health, and long-term planning goals.
- It is not designed for every attorney—but for those who qualify, the potential tax, income, savings, and protection benefits can be significant.
More Than Tax Savings
Attorney feeSaver™ is designed to do more than reduce or defer taxes on qualifying contingency fees.
For eligible plaintiff attorneys, the strategy may also provide:
- No ERISA participation requirements
- No required minimum distributions
- No traditional retirement-plan contribution limits
- Flexible access to income without early-retirement penalties
- Greater control over when and how funds are accessed
- Meaningful protection for family, firm, and succession needs
- A measure of protection against future tax-rate uncertainty
The result is a more flexible approach to building retirement income, long-term savings, and financial protection than traditional retirement planning or attorney fee deferral may provide on its own.
How to Get Started
Attorney feeSaver™ is not a one-size-fits-all program. Each design is customized around the plaintiff attorney’s age, income, contingency fees, firm structure, health, and long-term financial objectives.
1. Get Pre-Qualified
Complete a brief, confidential pre-qualification form to determine whether Attorney feeSaver™ may be appropriate for you.
Pre-Qualification Form2. Create Your Customized Design
Our team develops a coordinated Attorney feeSaver™ strategy based on your qualifying fees, business structure, funding capacity, and future income goals.
3. Build Tax-Advantaged Value
Your design is structured to preserve more of today’s contingency fee income while building long-term savings, future income, and protection.
4. Enjoy Greater Financial Control
Over time, eligible plaintiff attorneys may gain access to projected tax-free income, flexible liquidity, and meaningful protection for their families and firms.
Make Your Next Major Fee More Valuable
A large contingency fee can create an equally large tax obligation.
Attorney feeSaver™ is designed to change that outcome by combining attorney fee deferral and executive benefit planning into one uniquely coordinated strategy.
Instead of simply deciding when taxes will be paid, discover what your next major contingency fee could become.