Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Scholarship, Professor of Law

(434) 592-5300

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

  • 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 Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Scholarship 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.

He earned his Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University. He also earned a Master of Science (M.S.) in Applied Economics (with a concentration in Financial Economics) from the Johns Hopkins University. Moreover, he earned a Graduate Certificate in Applied Statistics from Kansas State University.

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

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.

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

Dean Todd serves as a regular Forbes contributor, writing about taxes, tax planning, tax cases, and related areas.

In 2015 he was awarded an ATAX Research Fellowship, being named the 2015 John Raneri Fellow at the University of New South Wales School of Taxation and Business Law in Sydney, Australia.

Todd has been quoted in outlets such as Bloomberg, Bloomberg BNA Daily Tax Report, Tax Notes, Tax Notes Today, Accounting Today, and Business News Daily.

He is a former chair and vice chair of the ABA Section of Taxation’s Individual and Family Taxation Committee. He also serves as a council member for the Virginia Bar Association Taxation Section. Moreover, he has worked with the ABA’s Joint Task Force on Governance Issues for Distressed Companies, and he formerly served as a member of the AICPA’s Tax Practice and Procedures Committee.

Dr. Todd’s research and teaching interests include taxation, business planning, and corporate law, among other topics. His works have 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, 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.