Overview

Amanda Dernovshek is a member of the Business and Tax group. Her practice focuses on issues related to federal taxation, employee benefits, and business planning. Amanda also assists the Firm’s mergers and acquisitions team.

Amanda works with clients to answer questions related to complicated employee benefits issues and general business issues. She aims to assist clients by providing understandable and practical advice. Specifically, the types of issues Amanda handles include:

Employee Benefits

• Drafting required documentation for plans covered by ERISA including Plan documents, Summary Plan Descriptions, and Summaries of Material Modification
• Guiding clients through discussions related to establishing, amending, and terminating employee benefit plans, including cafeteria plans, 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans, and deferred compensation plans
• Assisting clients with compliance under ERISA, COBRA, health care reform, and other relevant laws
• Providing guidance for benefit plan administration including review of QDROs, analysis of benefit coverage issues, and advice concerning nondiscrimination testing
• Facilitating employee benefit plan corrections to reduce penalties through formal governmental programs
• Corresponding with the IRS and DOL on behalf of clients related to audits of employee benefit plans

Business Planning

• Assisting a variety of businesses in analyzing the considerations involved in entity selection and formation
• Facilitating discussions with shareholders of corporations and members of LLCs on a variety of issues and drafting shareholder and operating agreements to meet client needs
• Advising clients on the process and assisting them with submission of IRS applications for tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)
• Performing due diligence during mergers and acquisition transactions for a variety of businesses of all sizes

Prior to joining Foster Swift, Amanda served as a judicial extern for Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals under the Honorable David McKeague.

Amanda earned her undergraduate and master’s degree at East Tennessee State University in her home state of Tennessee. She then moved to Michigan and earned her juris doctorate at Michigan State University College of Law, where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Law Review.

Honors & Recognitions

Affiliations

Memberships & Affiliations

Legal Affiliations

• State Bar of Michigan
• American Bar Association

Community Affiliations

• Girls on the Run Mid Michigan, Board Trustee and IDEA Project Manager
• Junior League of Lansing, Member

Experience

Representative Matters

• Advising an international company on its executive compensation plan, which was designed to incentivize diversity and inclusion among the company employees and management
• Conducting extensive diligence that involved reviewing hundreds of contracts to determine the implications of a stock transaction between two hospitals in which change in control was an important issue
• Assisting a client with all materials needed to file a voluntary correction program application to obtain approval of the client’s correction of a failure that involved the omission of required form filings for over a decade
• Advising clients on the correction options and processes upon discovery of administrative errors in 401(k) Plan administration
• Assisting clients in reconciling stock histories and certificates in connection with ESOP repurchases and releveraging
• Counseling a family business on its business succession planning issues, including discussions related to selling and gifting portions of the business to the owners' children

Communications

Publications

• Employee Benefits Considerations After Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization: Foster Swift Highlights Options Available to Employers, Foster Swift Employee Benefits Law E-blast, July 7, 2022
• Missing and Nonresponsive Participants, Foster Swift Business & Tax Law News, June 7, 2021
• Recent IRS Guidance and Clarification for the COBRA Subsidy Imposed by ARPA, Foster Swift Business & Tax Law News, June 3, 2021
• Incentivizing Employees to Obtain COVID-19 Vaccines, Foster Swift Employee Benefits News, April 8, 2021
• Missing and Nonresponsive Participants, Foster Swift Employee Benefits News, April 8, 2021
• Employers Now Required to Fully Subsidize COBRA Coverage, Foster Swift Employee Benefits News, April 7, 2021

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News & Events

Speaking Engagements

• Protecting Your Business and Assets when the Marriage Fails, Foster Swift Legal Strategies for Women Leaders, August 9, 2022
• Learn Executive Compensation Options & Negotiation, Foster Swift Legal Strategies for Women Leaders, June 7, 2022
• Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Certification: Process, Requirements and Benefits, Foster Swift Legal Strategies for Women Leaders, April 19, 2022
• Moving Forward: Succession Planning for Your Business, Michigan Movers Association, February 16, 2022
• ESOPS: A Trending Business Succession Strategy, MICPA Learning Showcase, June 15, 2021
• Learn the Basics of Women Owned Small Business Certification, Foster Swift 2nd Wednesday Morning Break, May 12, 2021

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News

• New Video Series Discusses Legal Issues for the Michigan Farmer, Foster Swift Agricultural Law News, October 6, 2022
• New Virtual Program Addresses Legal Strategies for Women Business Leaders, Michigan Business Network, March 28, 2022
• Learn Employee Benefits Legal Trends and Policies in 2021, Foster Swift Employee Benefits E-blast, April 19, 2021
• Legal Requirements For Employer Benefit Plans, Michigan Business Network, September 29, 2020
• Foster Swift Welcomes Five New Attorneys, November 16, 2018

Media

Legal Strategies for the Michigan Farmer

Entity Selection

Legal Strategies for Women Leaders

Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Certification: Process, Requirements and Benefits

Protecting Your Business and Assets when the Marriage Fails

Learn Executive Compensation Options & Negotiation

Small Business Resources

How to Form an LLC