Editorial policy
leahbadach.com is an educational resource on Section 1031 exchanges published by Leah Badach, a Certified Exchange Specialist at The Sontag Group. This page describes how sources are chosen, who writes and reviews what, what the dates on a page mean, and how to get an error fixed. It describes only what is actually in place as of September 6, 2026.
On this page
Sources
Regulatory statements are grounded in primary sources: the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury regulations, IRS publications, forms and instructions, revenue rulings and procedures published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and IRS news releases. Where a page quotes a source, the quotation is checked against the document at the linked URL. Secondary commentary is not used as authority for a rule.
The 1031 Updates section draws on a declared, fixed list of official pages: the Internal Revenue Bulletin index, the IRS disaster-relief index, the Instructions for Form 8824, About Form 8824, the IRS like-kind exchange tax tips, and Publication 544. It does not cover every IRS publication, and a keyword match is only a prompt for a person to read the full document.
Authorship and review
- Guides, tools, and video breakdowns
- Published under Leah Badach’s name and reflect her practice as a qualified intermediary. Drafting assistance, including software, is used; Leah is responsible for what is published under her name. Content is educational and is not tax, legal, or investment advice.
- 1031 Updates
- Each item is prepared from the cited source by an editorial process, then approved for publication by a named person whose approval is tied to that exact version of the text. Editing an approved item withdraws the approval until it is approved again. Whether Leah Badach has professionally reviewed an item is shown on the item itself; if it says “pending,” she has not yet reviewed that version.
- Trust claims
- Statements about Leah’s experience and the firm’s track record are attributed to their source (for example, The Sontag Group’s own site) and figures that cannot be sourced are removed rather than rounded. The Certified Exchange Specialist credential is a professional designation of the Federation of Exchange Accommodators, not a government license; anyone can check it in the FEA CES directory.
- Testimonials and case studies
- Only statements from identifiable clients who have given permission are published, and none are shown until that is on file. Worked examples are labelled as hypothetical.
- The AI assistant
- The on-site assistant answers from a short, curated knowledge base and states that it is not Leah and not an adviser. It never quotes fees and refers specific questions to a consultation.
What the dates mean
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Source date | The date on the official document (for example, the Internal Revenue Bulletin issue date). Left blank when the source shows only a “last reviewed” date. |
| Retrieved | The date the source was fetched and read for the page. |
| Sources last checked | An automated fetch of the declared official pages completed without error on that date. It is not a human review and does not mean the content was re-read. A failed or partial check does not advance this date. |
| Reviewed by | Shown only when Leah Badach has reviewed that specific version of the page. |
| Content approval | The named person who approved the exact text for publication, and when. |
| Page updated | The last material change to the page’s content. Cosmetic changes do not update it. |
Automated source checking: current status
A source checker exists in the site’s repository. It fetches only the declared pages above (and a bounded number of the newest bulletins and relief releases they link to), compares the substantive text with the previous run, and writes a draft into a private review queue when a relevant change or new item appears. It cannot publish. As of September 6, 2026 the checker runs only when a person starts it; no scheduled run is enabled. This page will be updated when a schedule is turned on and has been verified.
Corrections and supersession
When an official source changes or is superseded, the pages that cite it are flagged for review. The previously approved text stays up until a person has re-read the source and approved a revision; nothing is overwritten silently. Historical items keep their original dates and are marked superseded rather than deleted. Corrections to a published page are noted on that page.
Report an error
Email [email protected] with the page URL and the source you believe is correct. Substantive corrections are made after the source has been checked; the page’s “updated” date changes when the correction is published.
Related: About Leah Badach · 1031 Updates