Patti S. Spencer Esq.

Patti S. Spencer, Esq., Trusts, estates and tax attorney, is a nationally recognized author and educator. Ms. Spencer has been recognized by the legal profession for her educational commitment and her work with families, individuals, businesses, attorneys and accountants she serves as a peer-nominated fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC).

Ms. Spencer serves private trustee and/or executor and an expert witness in estate tax, estate planning, and fiduciary matters. She specializes in:

  • federal estate planning
  • gift and generation
  • skipping tax planning
  • estate and trust administration
  • business succession planning
  • tax planning for qualified plan distributions
  • fiduciary income tax
  • corporate tax planning.

Before she founded Spencer Law Firm LLC, Ms. Spencer managed a regional bank’s Personal Trust Department made up of 1,500 accounts and $400 million in assets. In this capacity, she supervised a department of nine Trust Officers and six Assistant Administrators in three line functions: Trust Administration, Trust Tax and Estate Settlement. She was accountable for trust department budgets, profitability, regulatory compliance, trust real estate, personnel issues, and estate-related legal matters.

Ms. Spencer taught Estate and Gift Taxation, Trusts and Estates, and Estate Planning at Boston University School of Law for eight years and has also taught Federal Income Taxation at Franklin and Marshall College. She is the author of two books on estate matters, numerous articles on estate planning topics, and is a frequent lecturer at continuing education programs for CPAs and lawyers. This career experience, along with her tenure at several of Boston’s leading law firms, helps her to address the needs of attorneys, accountants and individuals alike, and to serve as an expert witness in fiduciary litigation.

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts, 1978
  • Pennsylvania, 1979

Education

  • Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
    LL.M.
    May, 1984
    Major: Taxation (Graduate Tax Program)
  • Boston University School of Law, Boston, Massachusetts
    J.D.
    June, 1978
    Honors: Second Prize, Bernard E. Farr Estate Planning Competition
  • Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania
    B.A., summa cum laude
    June, 1975
    Honors: Phi Beta Kappa

Personal Projects

In her free time, Ms. Spencer writes about various topics that interest her including estate planning, trusts, history, childhood experiences and more. Click here read more.