Estate, Tax
Planning,
Trust & Probate Group
Ransmeier & Spellman Professional Corporation, located next to the State House in Concord, New Hampshire, has 15 attorneys providing a wide range of legal services to individuals, families, businesses and institutional clients. Members of the Estate and Tax Planning/Trust and Probate Group advise clients on personal, business, estate and tax planning matters, serve as, and represent executors, trustees, and guardians, in probate, non-probate and trust matters, before probate and trial courts throughout New Hampshire, as well as administrative agencies, including the I.R.S. and the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration. Members of the Group provide instruction to the public and to fellow practitioners via continuing legal education programs and seminars, as well as through authored articles.
We can assist you with:
Estate Planning - Minimizing the impact of Federal Estate Tax, and New Hampshire Inheritance Tax; avoiding probate; charitable giving and charitable trusts
Planning for the transfer of the family business and real estate holdings to family members at minimal tax cost
Preparing Wills, Trusts, Powers of Attorney, Deeds of Gift and related estate planning documents
Administration of estates
Trust administration during your life and for your survivors
Counselling and preparing Advance Directives - Living Wills and Durable Powers of Attorney for Health Care
Planning for long term care and possible Medicaid eligibility
Litigation of probate, trust, estate and tax matters, including will contests
Representing taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service and the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration
ESTATE AND TAX PLANNING/TRUST AND PROBATE GROUP
JOSEPH S. RANSMEIER, born New Orleans, Louisiana, June 19, 1915; admitted to bar, 1952, New Hampshire. Education: Oberlin College (A.B., 1936); Columbia University (M.A., 1937; Ph.D., 1942); University of Michigan (J.D., 1952). Phi Beta Kappa; Order of the Coif. Member, Board of Editors, Michigan Law Review, 1950-1951. Assistant Professor and Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, 1946-1952. Acting Associate Professor of Law, University of Michigan, 1952. Member: Merrimack County, New Hampshire and American Bar Associations. American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; New Hampshire Estate Planning Council.
JOHN C. RANSMEIER, born Charlottesville, Virginia, August 20, 1943; admitted to bar, 1968, New Hampshire. Education: Amherst College (B.A., cum laude, 1965); University of Michigan (J.D., 1968). Boston University (LL.M., in Taxation, 1986). Associate Editor, Michigan Law Review, 1967-1968. Member: Merrimack County, New Hampshire and American Bar Associations. Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; New Hampshire Estate Planning Council.
MICHAEL LENEHAN, born New Rochelle, New York, June 28, 1946; admitted to bar, 1975, Florida; 1976, District of Columbia; 1980, New Hampshire. Education: Dartmouth College (A.B., 1968); Stetson University (J.D., 1975); George Washington University (LL.M. in Taxation, 1981). Phi Alpha Delta. Editor-in-chief, Stetson Law Review, 1974-1975. Northern New England Defense Counsel Association, President 1993-1994. Member: Merrimack County and New Hampshire Bar Associations; Defense Research Institute. [U.S. Army, 1968-1970].
JEFFREY J. ZELLERS, born Concord, New Hampshire, December 4, 1952; admitted to bar, 1980, Massachusetts; 1981, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts; 1983, New Hampshire and U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit. Education: Oberlin College (B.A., 1977); Boston University (J.D., 1980). Recipient, American Jurisprudence Award; Boston University School of Law (LL.M. in Taxation, 1986). Member: Massachusetts, New Hampshire and American Bar Associations; New Hampshire Estate Planning Council.
THOMAS N. MASLAND, born Hanover, New Hampshire, July 17, 1951; admitted to bar, 1978, New Hampshire. Education: Princeton University (A.B., cum laude, 1973); University of Maine (J.D., 1978); Senior Law Clerk, New Hampshire Superior Court, 1978-1980. Member: Merrimack County, New Hampshire and American Bar Associations; Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; New Hampshire Estate Planning Council.
LISA L. BIKLEN, born Worcester, Massachusetts, July 5, 1957; admitted to bar, 1988, New Hampshire. Education: Franklin Pierce College (B.S., summa cum laude, 1986); Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D., 1988). Member: Merrimack County, New Hampshire and American Bar Associations; New Hampshire Estate Planning Council.
PAUL H. MacDONALD, born Concord, Massachusetts, March 18, 1963; admitted to bar, 1991, New Hampshire. Education: Dartmouth College (A.B., cum laude with honors in English, 1985); Vanderbilt University (J.D., 1991). Associate Editor, Vanderbilt Law Review, 1980-1981. Member: Merrimack County, New Hampshire and American Bar Associations.
TINA L. ANNIS, born Exeter, New Hampshire, September 2, 1975; admitted to bar 2000, New Hampshire. Education: Keene State College (B.A., summa cum laude in Economics / Political Science, 1997); Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D., 2000). Member: Merrimack County, New Hampshire, and American Bar Associations