Patricia M. McGrath
Shareholder

Biography

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 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)

Professional Affiliations

• Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• New Hampshire Bar Association
• Massachusetts Bar Association
• New Hampshire Estate Planning Council

Awards & Honors

• Recently selected by peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2012 in the field of Employee Benefits (ERISA) Law (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.). Recognized 2007-2012.
   

Speaking Engagements

• “Admissions to Collections: an Ounce of Preparation”, New Hampshire Association of Counties Annual Conference, October 2011
• "PPACA and the Impact on Employee Benefit Plans", Workplace Benefit Solutions Healthcare Reform Seminar Series, November 2010
• " 403(b) Plans Compliance", Devine Millimet, CCR LLP, Angell Pension Group, June 2010
• "Guardianship: Nuts and Bolts", New Hampshire Health Care Association, September 2010
• "New Section 403(b) and 409A Regulations", Devine Millimet Labor and Employment Group - The New Horizon in Labor and Employment Law, October and December 2008
• "Employee Benefits", Lorman Education Services - Paying Your Workforce/Compensation and Payroll Issues in New Hampshire, December 2008
• "Estate Planning and Civil Unions", Financial Planning Association of Northern New England, June 2008
• "Employee Benefits", Lorman Education Services – Writing the Employee Handbook in New Hampshire, May 2008
• "Probate and Estate Planning Issues" and "Federal Law and Workplace Benefits for Civil Union Couples", Lorman Education Services - Civil Unions, April 2008
• "The New Civil Union Law and Probate, Estate and Gift Tax Applications", New Hampshire Bar Association - The New Civil Union Law, November 2007
• "Income Taxation of Non-Tax Dependents Under New Hampshire’s New Insurance and Civil Union Laws", Devine Millimet Labor and Employment Group - Recent Developments in Employment Law, October 2007
• "Handling Estate Assets and Filing Fiduciary Tax Returns", Lorman Education Services - Oddities and Challenges in Probate Law, September 2007
• "Basics for Establishing a Charitable Planned Giving Program" Devine, Millimet & Branch seminar to New Hampshire's Behavioral and Mental Health Agencies, November, 2006
• "Health Reimbursement Arrangements", Lorman Education Services - Goodbye Medical Savings Accounts, January 2006
• "Tax & Estate Planning Implications of Divorce", New Hampshire Bar Association - 23rd Annual Tax Forum, November 2005

Community Involvement

• Associate in the Leadership New Hampshire class of 2008, a year-long program to identify emerging leaders and develop a network for effective leadership.

Publications

• "A compensation package deferred", New Hampshire Business Review, July 14, 2011
• "It's time to update qualified retirement plans", New Hampshire Business Review, November 6-19, 2009
• "Civil Unions -- Considerations for New Hampshire Employers as the Rights of Marriage are Extended to Civil Union Partners and Their Dependents", co author with Attorney Karen Levchuk, New Hampshire Bar Journal, Vol. 49, No.1, Spring 2008
• "New IRC Section 409A's Changes to Deferred Compensation", New Hampshire Society of CPAs Newsletter, May/June 2005
• "New Hampshire's New Uniform Trust Code: Not Just for Lawyers", New Hampshire Society of CPAs Newsletter, November 2004

Bar Admissions

• New Hampshire
• Massachusetts