Betsey McCandless - Estate Planning Seminar

Betsey McCandless / McCandless LLC

- Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel
- Highest Martindale-Hubbell Rating (A-V)
- Listed in the Best Lawyers in America
- B.A. in Government, from Franklin & Marshall College, 1977
- J.D. Hofstra University School of Law, 1982; Associate Editor, Hofstra Law Review

Betsey began her legal career in New York City, working there from 1982 to 1985. She moved to Maine in 1985 and joined Pierce Atwood in Portland. In 1992 she co-founded Maine's first boutique trusts and estates firm, McCandless & Hunt, which is now known as McCandless LLC. 

Betsey is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), a national professional organization to which she was elected in 1995. She was a member of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's Advisory Committee on Probate Rules for nine years, serving as Chair from 1996 through 2003. She was Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the University of Maine Foundation. Currently, Betsey serves as a Trustee of the Diocesan Funds for the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and as a member of the Planned Giving Advisory Board at The University of Southern Maine. She also serves as a Director of the Hospice of Southern Maine, a hospice program in York and Cumberland Counties, which operates the Gosnell House in Scarborough. She frequently lectures on charitable giving, estate administration and estate planning. 

Betsey has three children and is the daughter of a lighting and scene designer, Betsey loves art. Painting with watercolor and oil and traveling top her list of favorite activities. 

Services

Trust and Estate Law is complex for any individual or family, regardless of their economic situation. McCandless LLC offers services and counsel for all types of clients. 

We work with a wide range of individuals, possessing modest or extensive financial assets, from the divorced parent concerned with minor children, to the multi-generational family of significant wealth concerned with tax savings and with instilling philanthropic values to generations of their descendants. We work with traditional and blended families, and same-sex partners. In every case, we help our clients plan for their own future and the futures of their loved ones. Often clients also plan for their favorite charities.

Basic Estate Planning

We are experts in the preparation of:

·        Wills

·        Revocable trusts

·        Powers of attorney

·        Advance health-care directives

·        Retirement account and life insurance beneficiary designations

·        Asset ownership plans

Advanced Estate Planning

For our clients with extensive assets, we commonly provide services that include:

·        Irrevocable trusts

o   Charitable remainder and charitable lead trusts

o   Qualified personal residence trusts

o   Crummey trusts and Section 2503(c) trusts

o   Irrevocable life insurance trusts

o   Dynasty trusts

·        Lifetime gifts to individuals

·        Private foundations

·        Transfers of interests in closely-held businesses

·        Conservation easements

·        Gift tax returns