Judith A. Harris Appointed to Committees of the Board of Pensions for the Presbyterian Church
Judith A. Harris, a Member of Tallman Hudders & Sorrentino, the Pennsylvania office of Norris McLaughlin, P.A., was appointed to the Executive Committee, as well as named Chair of the Legal Committee and Vice-Chair of the Investment Committee, of the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the March Board Meeting in Philadelphia. Harris has served on the Board of Pensions since her election by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in July 2008.
As one of the six church agencies supporting the work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Board of Pensions designs and administers the pension, death and disability, medical benefits, and assistance programs for Presbyterian Church workers and their families. In doing so, the Board of Pensions collects, invests, and disburses funds from its $6.5 billion portfolio to support the benefit and assistance needs for over 50,000 church workers, including 14,000 active members, and 18,000 retired members and survivors.
“I look forward to my new leadership roles within the Board of Pensions. It is a privilege for me to serve the people who work for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), who are extremely devoted and help the Church do a lot of meaningful work in our communities across the United States,” said Harris.
Harris, Chair of the Estate, Trust and Tax Practice Group of the Pennsylvania office, has over twenty-three years of experience in the areas of taxation, wills and trusts, and estate administration.
In addition to creating estate plans for clients from the most sophisticated to the most basic wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, and living wills, Harris’s specialties include business matters involving corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. Harris’s practice also includes the areas of charitable trusts and foundations and representation of estates, trusts, and beneficiaries in disputes before the Orphans’ Court. She routinely handles the resolution of tax controversies for business and individual taxpayers before all divisions (civil and criminal) of the Internal Revenue Service and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.These cases often involve the resolution of estate, business, and individual audits, or the resolution of collection efforts such as liens, levies, and garnishments by the IRS and state taxing authorities.
In her work as an estate planning attorney, Harris frequently structures the optimal transfer of a client’s wealth and business interests to younger generations with minimal tax consequences.
Harris was recently elected President of the Estate Planning Council of the Lehigh Valley. From 1993 to 2000, she was an adjunct instructor of “Wills, Trusts, and Estates” at Penn State University’s Lehigh Valley Campus.
She is currently a board member and former President of the Fund to Benefit Children & Youth, Inc., a board member of the Allentown Symphony since 1993, and a board member of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society.Harris served for 10 years on the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority Board of Governors, where she chaired the Personnel and Law Committee.
Harris earned her LL.M. in Taxation from Villanova University School of Law in 1991 and her J.D. from American University in 1986. She earned her A.B., cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College in 1983.
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