Qualified Intermediary

Legal 1031

Legal 1031 Exchange Services, LLC · Parent: Kensington Vanguard National Land Services / CRC Group · Firm website

FEA membership: FEA member
CES® holders: Faith Graf, CES®; Matthew K. Scheriff, CPA, CES®
Fidelity bond: $50 million fidelity bond
E&O / other cover: $100 million errors and omissions policy
How funds are held: Segregated
Dual-signature wires: Dual-signature
Reverse / improvement / DST: Reverse Yes · Improvement Yes · DST Unknown
Last sourced: 2026-09-11

Fund handling

Segregated money-market escrow accounts identified with the client’s name and taxpayer identification number. Funds are not invested. Overview page also describes segregated dual-signature escrow accounts. Disbursements require written authorization plus verbal confirmation.

Who it is for

National delayed, simultaneous, reverse, and improvement/parking exchanges. Attorneys and a CPA on staff, per the firm. Parent stack: Kensington Vanguard National Land Services acquired Legal 1031 in July 2019 and merged KV 1031 Exchange into the Legal 1031 brand (Woodbury, NY HQ on the KV page); CRC Group since early 2024.

Verdict

Legal 1031 publishes an unusually large E&O number ($100 million) next to a $50 million fidelity bond — the inverse of IPX’s mix. That is still an insurance policy, not a lockbox. The operating picture is better than the slogan: TIN-titled money-market escrow, no investment of proceeds, written plus verbal release, dual-signature accounts. Named CES®: Faith Graf (VP of Operations) and Matthew K. Scheriff, CPA, CES® (EVP). The 2019 KV acquisition and KV-1031 merge are ownership history, not a second set of account controls. Ask whether the dual-signature bank control is on every file or only when requested.

Notes

Legal 1031 Exchange Services, LLC is backed by Kensington Vanguard National Land Services. KV’s 1031 page: in July 2019 Kensington Vanguard acquired Legal 1031; Legal 1031 Exchange and KV 1031 Exchange were merged and operate under the Legal 1031 brand. Todd Pajonas, Esq., and Matthew K. Scheriff, CPA, founded Legal 1031 and manage the combined business, headquartered in Woodbury, NY.

Legal 1031’s About page: the firm is a division of KV; Legal 1031 and KV are now part of CRC Group (transitioned from Truist Insurance Holdings in early 2024). The safety page also names CRC Group as parent, with a published market-capitalization figure that is the parent’s claim, not a QI capital ratio.

About names President Todd R. Pajonas, Esq., and Executive Vice President Matthew K. Scheriff, CPA, CES. Faith Graf, CES®, remains the operations CES® source on her team page. The overview page is the FEA-membership and dual-signature source. The safety page is the bond, E&O, TIN account, and no-investment source.

Sources

Safety of Exchange Funds — Legal 10312026-09-04
1031 Exchange Overview — Legal 10312026-09-04
Faith Graf, CES — Legal 10312026-09-04
FAQ — Legal 10312026-09-04
About Us — Legal 10312026-09-11
1031 Exchange Services — Kensington Vanguard National Land Services2026-09-11

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Legal 1031 Exchange Services, LLC (Legal 1031) has a custody file on The QI File — published facts only. No star rating. No paid placement.

FEA: FEA member. Funds: Segregated. Dual-sign: Dual-signature.

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