Ann N. Butenhof

Ann Butenhof is a founding partner of Butenhof & Bomster, PC. Her early work with the non-profit New Hampshire Legal Assistance (NHLA) representing low-income and elderly residents led to a strong appreciation of the special legal and care challenges facing these NH residents. She is well known in New Hampshire’s legal community for her experience in navigating Medicaid eligibility rules, public benefits programs, and special needs trusts. Ann specializes in estate planning, elder law, and planning for the future care and financial security of children with special needs and individuals who have disabilities by tailoring estate plans to protect life savings while maintaining eligibility for needs-based public benefits programs. In addition to directly working with individuals and families, Ann is a trusted legal resource for financial planners and fellow attorneys in her practice areas. Ann has been requested to lecture and train numerous attorneys and financial advisors on elder law and special needs topics, including the New Hampshire Bar Association, the New Hampshire Association of Justice, and the NH Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

Ann has an AV Preeminent rating via peer review through Martindale-Hubbell, and likewise has been recognized by her peers as one of New Hampshire’s best attorneys in the area of elder law every year since 2003. She is honored to have been named lawyer of the year in the area of elder law in 2014, 2017 and 2022 (as reported by NH Magazine, and US News & World Report’s Best Lawyers 2022), and to be recognized as one of New England’s “Super Lawyers” since 2007 (as reported in SuperLawyers). She was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) in 2009 and is one of only four attorneys who has earned the Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) distinction from the National Elder Law Foundation. With her law partner, Judith Bomster, Ann has co-authored a chapter entitled “Special Needs Trusts” in the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education publication “A Practical Guide to Estate Planning in New Hampshire.”

Ann is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and chaired the Formation Committee that established the New Hampshire chapter of NAELA, serving as its first president. As an active member of the Special Needs Alliance (SNA), a national, invitation-only network of lawyers dedicated to disability and public benefits law, and has served on the Board of Directors and its Education Committee. In addition, she is a member of the New Hampshire Estate Planning Council the Trust & Estate and Health Law sections of the New Hampshire Bar Association . Ann served for six years on the Board of the New Hampshire Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NH NAMI), and has been an active member of the Queen City Rotary since 2010, serving as its President for the 2019-2020 year.

Ann earned her J.D. (magna cum laude and Order of the Coif) and an M.S.S.A. (equivalent to a master’s degree in social work) from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio through a joint degree program. She received her B.A. from Lake Forest College in Illinois. She is licensed to practice in the State of New Hampshire.