​By Attorney Edward Jesson

When business owners think of employee handbooks, oftentimes they think of it as just one more administrative task that needs to be checked off the list when onboarding a new client. Because there are so many online HR services that will offer an employee handbook as part of their services, it can be tempting to just take whatever they have on offer and call it a day.

However, in North Carolina, and many other jurisdictions, the employee handbook is not just a HR document, it’s a legal document which can create legally binding promises between your business and your employee. Often, what you’ll obtain from your online HR service is a generic template, designed to work for thousands of clients over multiple jurisdictions and over many different industries. However, generic, nonspecific language is a risk when it comes to your employee handbook.

Employment law is highly state specific; what is required in, for example, California, can be vastly different from what is required in North Carolina. For example, North Carolina’s Wage and Hour Act has very specific rules on what can be withheld from an employee’s final paycheck and under what circumstances a business can withhold those funds. Violating the Wage and Hour Act can result in, among other things, an award of treble damages for the aggrieved employee as well as the business having to pay that former employee’s attorney’s fees—that can turn a small mistake into a big financial headache.

One example of an employee handbook that we recently came across discussed final paycheck withholdings and simply (and generically) stated that “state law applies.” In North Carolina, that is insufficient, the employee handbook has to state, specifically, what withholdings may be withheld from that final check. Accordingly, the employer wasn’t able to withhold anything from the paycheck, despite having invested a lot of money in training that the employer wished to recoup.

Your employee handbook is one of the most important legal documents your company has. It governs how you treat your employees, how you handle disputes, and how you hold up in court. Delegating it to an HR platform because it's convenient is like using an online will generator because it's fast — it might technically do the job, until it doesn't. And when it doesn’t, there are going to be real issues that arise as a result.

If you need an employee handbook reviewed, or need a handbook drafted from scratch, the attorneys at Jesson & Rains, PLLC are ready and able to assist in ensuring it’s compliant with your state’s legal requirements.

By Associate Attorney Ashley N. Bonomini

Marriage is one of life's most important commitments, but it is also a legal and financial partnership. When most people think of prenuptial agreements, they think of divorce planning, but it is so much more than that.  A prenuptial agreement can be a foundational component of a sound estate and business plan.

While discussing a prenuptial agreement may not seem romantic, it provides couples with an opportunity to establish clear expectations regarding financial matters and protect their interests before entering into marriage. One of the primary benefits of a prenuptial agreement is the protection of premarital assets. Individuals entering a marriage often have property they wish to keep separate, such as real estate, investment accounts, retirement savings, family inheritances, or ownership interests in a business.

Many people are shocked to learn that, immediately upon marriage, your spouse has automatic rights as it relates to inheritance!  You cannot legally disinherit your spouse in North Carolina or leave them less than the statutory “elective share,” which is a percentage of your estate based on the number of years you are married, unless you have a prenuptial agreement.

Therefore, individuals who expect to receive an inheritance or who wish to preserve family assets for children from a prior relationship often use prenuptial agreements as part of their estate planning strategy.  A prenup can help ensure that inherited assets remain separate property and can clarify how assets will be distributed in conjunction with a comprehensive estate plan. This is significant for individuals entering a second (or third) marriage or those with children from prior relationships who want to preserve assets intended for their children or other beneficiaries while balancing the financial needs of a new spouse.

Likewise, prenuptial agreements are particularly valuable for business owners. A business may represent years of hard work and substantial financial investment. Without a prenup, questions may arise regarding the appreciation in value of the business during the marriage or whether marital efforts contributed to its growth. A carefully drafted agreement can help protect the business and minimize the risk of costly litigation. This is vital for business owners looking to protect their business and livelihood from distribution to a spouse as part of a divorce or at death.

To be enforceable in North Carolina, a prenuptial agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties before the marriage. The agreement should be entered into voluntarily, and both parties should have adequate time to review the terms and seek independent legal counsel. Waiting until just days before a wedding can create unnecessary pressure and may increase the likelihood of future challenges to the validity of the agreement.

Ultimately, a prenuptial agreement is not just about planning for divorce. Instead, it is a proactive planning tool that allows couples to make informed decisions about their financial future.

Jesson & Rains, PLLC, has recently added the preparation of prenuptial agreements to our service offerings.  We understand that discussing a prenuptial agreement can be a sensitive topic. Our attorneys work closely with clients to create customized agreements that protect their interests while promoting fairness, transparency, and peace of mind. Whether you are entering your first marriage, a second marriage, own a business, have significant assets, or simply want to establish clear financial expectations, our team can guide you through the process with professionalism and care.

By Associate Attorney Nicole M. Perozzi
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High school graduation season is here! If your child is heading off to college this fall, you’ve probably got a million things to do.  From making tuition deposits, to picking meal plan selections, to buying dorm supplies—the checklist of things to do over the next few months feels never-ending.  However, there’s one important item that most parents do not even realize is missing from their checklists.

Now that your child is 18 years old, you no longer have the legal right to make financial or medical decisions for them.  Colleges won’t discuss academic or financial records with you, even if you are the one paying the tuition. Doctors and hospitals won’t share any information with you about your child’s health, even in an emergency. You may be thinking, “But they’re still on my health insurance!” Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter.

The good news is there are three simple documents that can fix this: a Financial Power of Attorney, a Health Care Power of Attorney, and a HIPAA Authorization.  A Financial Power of Attorney allows your child to appoint a trusted individual to help manage their financial affairs now or if they are unable to do so in the future.  A Health Care Power of Attorney allows your child to appoint a health care agent to make medical decisions for them in the event of incapacity or unconsciousness.  A HIPAA Authorization allows your child to designate individuals to receive health care information about them, regardless of incapacity. Together, these documents ensure that you can still be there for your child when it matters the most.

Getting a Financial Power of Attorney, a Health Care Power of Attorney, and HIPAA Authorization signed before move-in day is easier than you think.  Having a conversation with our team here at Jesson & Rains means one less thing on your checklist this summer.  Plus, you can use this as an opportunity to talk with your child about what to do in an emergency and how you can still be a resource to them, even as they start this new chapter all on their own.  Give us a call!

​By Attorney Kelly Jesson

You’re working hard, building wealth, and, because you're a responsible person, you've purchased a large life insurance policy to protect your family when you're gone.  While that's admirable, this is one of the most common planning errors we see among high-net-worth individuals. They do everything right in terms of getting the life insurance, but the way they structure ownership quietly sets their heirs up for a significant, and often completely avoidable, tax bill.

Here's what many affluent individuals don't realize: when you die owning a life insurance policy, the death benefit gets included in your taxable estate, even if you name a beneficiary.

Think about that for a moment. You purchase a $5 million life insurance policy to take care of your family. You pay the premiums. The policy is in your name. You are the owner.  You name your kids as the beneficiaries.  And when you pass away, the IRS considers that $5 million to be part of your estate, along with your home, investment accounts, business interests, retirement, etc., even though the money goes to your kids.

If your estate is already large, adding a $5 million life insurance death benefit could push you into federal estate tax territory or deepen the tax burden significantly if you're already there.

As of 2026, the federal estate tax exemption is $15 million per individual ($30 million for married couples using portability). For most people, that is a large, unreachable number.  But it’s certainly easier to hit if you add a $5 million (or larger!) life insurance policy to your portfolio.  At your death, if your estate exceeds the exemption threshold, the federal estate tax rate is 40% on every dollar above the limit.

A $5 million life insurance policy owned in your name could generate $2 million in federal estate taxes that would not have existed if the policy had been structured correctly.

Even worse, if you had purchased that life insurance policy in order to pay estate tax so your family wouldn’t have to liquidate real estate or business interests, now you have $2 million less with which to pay said tax.

The good news is that this problem has a well-established, time-tested solution: an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust, commonly called an ILIT.  Instead of owning the life insurance policy yourself, the trust is the policy owner, the trust pays the premiums, and the trust is the beneficiary of the death benefit, which means that it is not part of your estate when you pass away.  The trust can then distribute funds to your heirs according to the terms you establish.

While it’s not impossible to transfer an existing policy to an ILIT, it is a lot trickier (because you are “gifting” some present value and there’s a three-year look back period), which is why we are always disheartened to begin working with a high net worth individual only to learn that they were just sold a large insurance policy. Or even worse if they purchase the policy after they start working with us without telling us about it! The latter example is one of the reasons why we have an annual estate planning Legacy Care Club so we can stay in routine contact with our clients and their trusted advisors.

To summarize, for high-net-worth individuals, large life insurance policies can sometimes do more harm than good.  Additionally, it is important to involve your estate planning attorney (a fiduciary) in important decisions like this.  The better approach is to have the ILIT purchase the policy from the start.

Please give Jesson & Rains a call if you’d like to talk about whether an ILIT makes sense for your situation. You should review any existing policies to ensure your strategy to protect your family does not end up costing them a fortune.