By Attorney Kelly Jesson

If you changed jobs in the last decade (and statistically, you probably did), there is a real chance that a piece of your retirement savings is floating somewhere in financial limbo. And if something happens to you before you track it down, your executor may never find it either.

A landmark report released in September 2025 by Capitalize, a retirement savings platform, in partnership with the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, put numbers to a problem that estate planning attorneys have long seen play out in probate: Americans are losing track of their retirement money at an astonishing increasing rate.[1]  As of July 2025, an estimated $2.1 trillion dollars in 401(k) accounts have been forgotten or left behind by their owners. That’s nearly 25% of all money held in 401(k) plans nationwide!  The average forgotten account balance is $66,691. That is not pocket change.

When a plan administrator cannot locate a participant, the account does not just sit there indefinitely. After a period of attempted contact, administrators may transfer the funds to the state as unclaimed property, a process known as escheatment. At that point, the tax-deferred growth stops, taxes and potential penalties may be withheld, and your heirs are left hunting through state databases to reclaim what should have been a straightforward inheritance.

And that’s if your heirs even find out about it!  This is not a problem of bad intentions. It is a problem of disorganization and assumption. People assume their family knows. They assume the accounts are obvious. They assume it will all work itself out. It often does not.

The legal reality is that your executor has a fiduciary duty to identify and gather all assets of the estate. But your executor can only find what they know to look for. A forgotten 401(k) from a job held in 2007 may never appear on any document they find in your files. Without a comprehensive inventory of your financial life, you are leaving your family to do archaeology instead of administration.

As an added service to our clients, Jesson & Rains can work with our clients to create what we call a “Family Wealth Inventory.”  We ask our clients to upload all of their financial statements, we verify type and title of assets and beneficiary designations, and then we organize it in a way that makes it easy for the family and executor to locate assets when the client passes away.  If a client has a trust, the Family Wealth Inventory also includes detailed instructions for transferring the asset to their trust.  For our Annual Legacy Plan clients, we will keep the Family Wealth Inventory updated every year.

If your loved one has already passed away without a family wealth inventory, here are a few resources available to search for missing assets: 

• Department of Labor Retirement Savings Lost & Found Database: lostandfound.dol.gov 
• UnclaimedRetirementBenefits.com 
• State Unclaimed Property Databases: Each state maintains a free, searchable database. You can search all 50 states at once via MissingMoney.com
• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: pbgc.gov.
• Contact the HR or benefits department of any prior employer. If the company has closed, search the DOL's Form 5500 database for the plan administrator's contact information.

If you’re interested in creating and maintaining a Family Wealth Inventory, give Jesson & Rains a call!

​By Attorney Kelly Jesson

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has struck down the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (“FinCEN”) new residential reporting rule.

FinCEN’s “Anti-Money Laundering Regulations for Residential Real Estate Transfers” final rule went into effect on March 1, 2026. That rule required individuals to report non-financed transactions of residential real estate where the real estate was being transferred to a legal entity (such as an LLC or Corporation) or certain types of trusts to FinCEN.

Flowers Title Companies, LLC, filed suit in Texas, and on March 19, 2026, the District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued its final ruling, calling FinCEN’s explanation of the rule “vague, conclusory, and unpersuasive” and ultimately holding that the FinCEN rule conflicts with the Bank Secrecy Act and that vacatur of the rule is the only proper remedy.

Accordingly, as of March 19, 2026, FinCEN’s rule requiring reporting related to real estate is no longer in effect. It is highly likely that an appeal will be filed and, much like the BOIR rules from 2024, the status of this rule will go back and forth for quite some time until we get a final decision on this matter.

Jesson & Rains will strive to keep its clients updated on this as the situation unfolds. 

By Senior Associate Jeneva A. Vazquez

In recent news, an article highlighted something we see frequently in meetings with clients. There is a real demographic shift happening in the United States. More adults are choosing not to have children, or they are delaying parenthood. That shift carries meaningful implications for how people structure their estate plans.

At the same time, we are seeing immediate families spread farther apart geographically.  Extended families become more separated earlier in life. As a result, many people find themselves with fewer obvious choices when it comes to selecting trusted decision makers, whether that is a trustee, a personal representative, or a healthcare agent.

Historically, estate planning has often centered around one primary idea: leaving assets to children. For a growing number of individuals and couples, however, that simply is not the path. When that default assumption disappears, the planning conversation becomes more creative.

For clients without obvious beneficiary choices, we spend time counseling them through bigger questions. Who has shaped your life? What organizations matter most to you? Are there nieces, nephews, extended family members, or even chosen family you would like to benefit? Would you like to create a charitable legacy? Should a university, church, or nonprofit continue your impact long after you are gone?

These conversations are often surprisingly freeing. Many clients carry a quiet weight about what will happen to everything if they do not have children. One of the heaviest burdens we see is not about who receives assets, but who serves in important fiduciary roles. Clients do not want to impose on a friend or distant relative the time commitment, logistics, and stress of administering an estate or managing a trust.  

That is where thoughtful structuring becomes so important. In some cases, clients elect to use a corporate trustee so that a professional entity can step in and handle administrative responsibilities smoothly. In other cases, we build in support systems so that no one person feels overwhelmed.

We also help our clients make their fiduciaries’ jobs more manageable. Even the most willing trustee or executor can struggle if they cannot find accounts, policies, passwords, or key documents. That is why we do not just draft documents. We can help inventory assets, align beneficiary designations, and create systems so that the right people can quickly locate what they need in an emergency or after a death. Clarity reduces stress. Preparation protects relationships.

Estate planning in today’s world looks different than it did a generation ago. With thoughtful guidance and intentional conversations, it can be even more meaningful.  If you are unsure who would step into important roles in your life or how you would like your legacy to unfold, we would be honored to help you think through those decisions with clarity and confidence. Contact us today to get started.

​By Attorney Kelly Jesson

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has adopted a new residential real estate reporting requirement, effective March 1, 2026, targeting non-financed transfers of residential property. Purchases involving bank financing already fall under anti-money laundering regulations, but if a bank is not involved, there’s very little oversight at all.  The new law is designed to prevent the use of entities and trusts to conceal illicit funds.

The reporting requirement applies when residential real property is transferred to a legal entity, such as an LLC, corporation, or trust and no bank or other institutional financing is involved.  The rule applies regardless of purchase price and captures transfers made without payment.

Luckily, certain transfers are excluded. An individual transferring property into their own revocable or irrevocable grantor trust does not require reporting. Transfers resulting from death (like transfer from a life estate) or inheritance (like transfer from probating a will) also do not trigger reporting.

Unfortunately, transfers from individuals to their own LLCs for asset protection purposes DOES trigger the rule.  So what might this mean for you?  FinCEN requires the disclosure of the names, dates of birth, addresses, citizenship, and taxpayer identification numbers of the transferee and the “beneficial owners” behind an entity. To be a beneficial owner, an individual must directly or indirectly exercise “substantial control” over the entity or own or control at least 25 percent of the entity’s ownership interests. This definition is the same as the definition of a beneficial owner in FinCEN’s Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting (BOIR) Rule that was repealed last year.

Reports must be filed through FinCEN’s Bank Secrecy Act e-filing system by the later of the last day of the month following the transfer or 30 calendar days after the transfer. It only applies to transfers occurring after March 1, 2026, so there’s no retroactivity, unlike the prior BOIR rule that was repealed.

Like the old BOIR rule, FinCEN assigns responsibility to the “reporting person;” generally the professional most directly responsible for the closing or recording of the deed. This means that we will be asking our clients engaging in such transactions to certify their information.  Costs for closings and recordings is likely to go up.

Don’t overlook this rule or try to do it yourself: the penalty for failing to file the required report could be as high as $1,394 for each violation, and an additional civil money penalty of up to $108,489 for a pattern of negligent activity.  Willful violations of the final rule could result in a term of imprisonment of not more than five years or a criminal fine of not more than $250,000, or both.

Please contact Jesson & Rains for more information!  We will continue to draft deeds for our clients for asset protection purposes and comply with the federal regulations.