Timothy M. Todd, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D., Personal Financial Planning, Kansas State University
• M.S., Applied Economics (concentration in Financial Economics), Johns Hopkins University
• J.D., Liberty University School of Law, first in class, summa cum laude
• M.S. in Accounting, Liberty University
• B.S., Liberty University, summa cum laude, Honors Program
• CPA, Certified Public Accountant, Virginia license
• Graduate Certificate, Applied Statistics, Kansas State University

Areas of Interest/Teaching

Taxation; Financial Planning; Wills, Trusts, & Estates; Business Planning; Corporate Law; Mergers & Acquisitions; and Bankruptcy

Publications

• Seeing Through the Sleight of Hand: Estate Tax Consequences of Redeeming Stock with Life Insurance Proceeds, 183 Tax Notes Federal 437 (2024) (with F. Philip Manns)
• Examining the Conventional Wisdom of Municipal Bond Investments and Use in Financial Planning, Journal of Financial Planning, 36(10), 66–82 (2023) (with Stuart Heckman & Maurice MacDonald)
• Exploring the Relationship Between Investors’ Financial Literacy and Advisor use with Securities-Based Loans, Financial Planning Review, 6(3), e1166 (2023) (with Matthew Sommer & HanNa Lim)
• The FBAR’s Muddy Morass: Shining a Light with Interpretive Tools, 177 Tax Notes Federal 179 (2022)
• Financial Attributes, Financial Behaviors, Financial-Advisor-Use Beliefs, and Investing Characteristics Associated with Having Used a Robo-Advisor, Financial Planning Review 3(3) (2021) (with Martin C. Seay)
• Phantom Income and Domestic Support Obligations, 67 Buff. L. Rev. 365 (2019)
• The Income Tax Exemption of Charities and the Tax Deductibility of Charitable Donations: The United States and Australia Compared, 33 Australian Tax Forum 667 (2018) (with Fiona Martin, UNSW)
• Exogeneity vs. Endogeneity in Section 170’s Quid Pro Quo Test, 90 State Tax Notes 37 (2018)
• The Pernicious Effect of Dubious Materiality, 12 Liberty U. L. Rev. 315 (2018)
• Higher Education Savings and Planning: Tax and Nontax Considerations, 5 Texas A&M L. Rev. 343 (2018) (with F. Philip Manns)
• The Tax Lifecycle of a Single-Member LLC, 36 Va. Tax Rev. 323 (2017) (with F. Philip Manns)
• The Front Door Opens Wide for the Backdoor Roth IRA, 155 Tax Notes 1325 (2017) (with F. Philip Manns)
• Financial Twilight Re-Appraisal: Ending the Judicially Created Quagmire of Fiduciary Duties to Creditors, 78 U. Pittsburgh L. Rev. 135 (2016) (with Anil Hargovan, UNSW)
• Issues Arising Upon the Death of the Sole Member of a Single-Member LLC, 99 Marquette L. Rev. 723 (2016) (with F. Philip Manns)
• Discharge of Late Tax Return Debt in Bankruptcy: Fixing BAPCPA’s Draconian Hanging Paragraph, 24 American Bankr. Inst. L. Rev. 433 (2016)
• Whose Goodwill Is It? The Taxation of Goodwill in Owner-Entity Transactions, 122 J. Taxation 74 (2015)
• The Tail That Wags the Dog: The Problem of Pre-Merit-Decision Interim Fees and Moral Hazard in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, 63 U. Kan. L. Rev 1 (2014)
• The Fifth Amendment and the Conjurer’s Circle: Exploring the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination in Federal Tax Practice, 9 Charleston L. Rev. 147 (2014)
• To Lien Strip or Not to Lien Strip: Fourth Circuit Blesses Controversial “Chapter 20” Bankruptcy Lien Stripping in In re Davis, 65 S.C. L. Rev. 963 (2014)
• Multiple-Entity Planning to Reduce Self-Employment Taxes: Recent Cases Demonstrate the Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them, 13 J. Tax. Prac. & Proc. 31 (2011)
• Patenting the Fingerprint of God: How Gene Patents Violate the Products of Nature Doctrine, 5 Liberty U. L. Rev. 77 (2010) (Student Note)

Biography

Timothy M. Todd, Ph.D., serves as Interim Dean and Professor of Law. He also serves as the Director of the Wealth Management and Financial Planning Program at the law school, which has the distinction of being the first exclusively JD-based, CFP Board–registered program in the country.

Todd has taught an array of courses, including individual income taxation; taxation of estates and gifts; taxation of businesses; wills, trusts, and estates; mergers and acquisitions; business planning; and bankruptcy, among others.

Dr. Todd’s research and teaching interests include taxation, business planning, estate planning, corporate law, and related areas. His published work spans an array of topics, such as death-time planning for LLCs, the estate tax consequences of corporate redemptions, FBAR reporting, the intersection of tax and bankruptcy law, and corporate fiduciary duties, among other topics. His legal scholarship has been published in Tax Notes, State Tax Notes, Texas A&M Law Review, Virginia Tax Review, Buffalo Law Review, University of Pittsburgh Law Review, Marquette Law Review, the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, the Journal of Taxation, the University of Kansas Law Review, the South Carolina Law Review, the Charleston Law Review, the Journal of Tax Practice and Procedure, and the Liberty University Law Review.

In addition to his legal scholarship, Todd also researches and publishes in the financial planning field. His peer-reviewed research has appeared in the Journal of Financial Planning and Financial Planning Review. His financial planning research has addressed issues such as municipal bond investments, financial literacy, and the use of robo-advisors.

Dean Todd serves as a regular Forbes contributor, writing about taxes, tax planning, tax cases, and related areas. In addition, he has been quoted in outlets such as MarketWatch, Bloomberg, U.S. News & World Reports, Bloomberg BNA Daily Tax Report, Tax Notes, Tax Notes Today, Accounting Today, and Business News Daily.

In 2015, he was awarded an ATAX Research Fellowship, being named the John Raneri Fellow at the University of New South Wales School of Taxation and Business Law in Sydney, Australia. In addition, he has served as a visiting professor for the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, for which he taught taxation of business entities. He also taught an intensive course at Handong International Law School in South Korea.

Dean Todd serves as Vice Chair of the Virginia Bar Association Taxation Section. He also serves as Vice Chair for the Virginia Society of CPAs Tax Advisory Committee. He is also a non-voting member of the Virginia State Bar Tax Section’s Board of Governors. In addition, he is on the board of directors for the Financial Planning Association.

Dean Todd is a former chair and vice chair of the ABA Section of Taxation’s Individual and Family Taxation Committee. He was also named a John Nolan Fellow by the ABA Section of Taxation. Moreover, he has worked with the ABA’s Joint Task Force on Governance Issues for Distressed Companies.

He has also served with the AICPA in various roles, such as being a member of the AICPA Financial Literacy Commission, serving as a member of the AICPA’s Tax Practice and Procedures Committee, and serving on the AICPA’s National Accreditation Commission.

Dr. Todd has the distinct privilege of being the first Liberty Law alumnus to join the law school faculty full time. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2016 to 2020, and he served as the first Associate Dean of Faculty Development & Scholarship at Liberty Law from 2020 to 2024.

Todd graduated summa cum laude from Liberty University School of Law, where he graduated first in his class and served as managing editor of the law review. He clerked for the Honorable Eric G. Bruggink of the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.

In addition to his law degree, he earned his Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University, from which he also earned a Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics. He earned his Master of Science (M.S.) in Applied Economics (with a concentration in Financial Economics) from Johns Hopkins University. He also holds an M.S. in Accounting, and he graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Business (specializing in finance) from Liberty University.

Todd is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is admitted to the bars of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Tax Court. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the Virginia Bar Association, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Academy of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants.