Pat focuses her practice in two areas: pension and benefits law, and trusts and estates work. In her pension and benefits law practice, Pat assists businesses in establishing and administering health and welfare plans and in interpreting COBRA eligibility and notice guidelines, with a respectful awareness of the income tax and eligibility wrinkles that New Hampshire's own health care laws cause in this area. Pat assists small to mid-size businesses and not-for-profit entities, including healthcare settings and governmental agencies, in establishing and administering the alphabet soup of pension and profit-sharing plans such as 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans, as well as 409A-compliant nonqualified deferred compensation plans for executives and highly compensated employees. Pat also represents businesses before the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service in audit and correction procedures with respect to those plans.

In her estate planning practice, Pat advises and formulates strategies for individuals to reduce involvement with the state-level probate process and to minimize estate tax exposure, whether by crafting a revocable trust or will, or through the use of more sophisticated lifetime and at-death wealth transfer techniques, such as irrevocable insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, charitable trusts and foundations, and has a particular interest in representing nontraditional families and civil union couples who do not benefit from the present federal wealth transfer structure. At the entity level, Pat also advises nonprofits such as educational institutions and hospitals regarding planned giving strategies. Pat also represents estates in the probate administration process and is actively involved in trustee and beneficiary representation matters with other members of the firm’s Probate Litigation Practice Group. She also represents guardians and wards in minor and adult guardianship matters.

EDUCATION:

Boston University School of Law, Graduate Program, Master of Laws in Taxation, 2003
Suffolk University Law School, Juris Doctor, 1997 (Magna Cum Laude)
University of Pittsburgh, Master of Arts, 1979
Emerson College, Bachelor of Science, 1977 (Cum Laude)

BAR ADMISSIONS:

New Hampshire
Massachusetts