Anne Bridgman Franke

Biography

As a member of the estate and trust administration team, my primary concern is to assist clients with the administration of probate estates and trusts.   This includes the preparation of estate and trust accountings, estate tax returns and fiduciary income tax returns.   With a focus on what happens when the “rubber meets the road”, the estate and trust administration team brings a unique perspective to complex litigation, planning, and administrative issues in our firm problem solving and strategic planning meetings focused on client issues.

The estate and trust administration process can be onerous, especially for personal representatives, trustees and other family members who have recently lost a loved one. Our goal is to support our clients during this emotionally difficult time and, as much as possible, to relieve them of the voluminous paperwork involved in estate and trust administration. We help clients keep track of tax and other filing deadlines and we prepare the requisite tax returns, accountings, court papers, and/or other documents necessary to the winding-up of an estate or trust.  Throughout the administrative process, we see our job as making sure that our clients understand every step so that our clients have the knowledge to make informed decisions.   Our estate administration team continues to develop procedures to promote the efficiency and efficacy of the estate and trust administration process which, in turn, frees us to identify and tackle collateral individual issues that arise, thus improving our services to our clients.

I graduated from the University of Maryland in 1980 with a BS in nursing.   In 1981, Fred and I were married and I worked as a critical care nurse until after the birth of our third child.   While I was still working at the hospital, I did much of the general bookkeeping in the office.   In the mid-1990s, I began to take on more of the estate administration duties, enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program in accounting and passed the CPA exam in 1999.   I routinely participate in continuing education programs.

I also function as the office manager and I am happy to assist clients with any general concerns related to our firm