Karen M. Holyoke

Karen focuses her practice in the areas of estate planning, trust and estate administration, and planning for owners of closely held businesses.

Karen is strongly client focused, a good listener, and delivers complex advice simply, with an emphasis on kindness and respect. Her practice includes advising clients on complex strategies relative to charitable giving and estate and gift taxes, including marital trusts, credit shelter trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, qualified personal residence trusts, and charitable trusts. She also advises nonprofit entities on a variety of issues, including formation and qualifying for tax exempt status.

Karen began her career at a central Maine firm focused on business law. She took that expertise in house, serving as Corporate Counsel and then Vice President of Corporate and Legal Affairs (2004­2015) at the local electric utility. That role led to a role in business operations, serving as the Vice President of Customer Experience (2015-2018). Karen was also a general practice attorney at a small local firm in the Bangor area.

Immediately after law school, Karen served as Judicial Clerk to Andrew J. Kleinfeld, United States Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in Fairbanks, Alaska. While at the University of Utah School of Law, Karen was admitted to the Order of the Coif, as a member of the top 10 percent of her class and was Managing Editor of the Utah Law Review.

Karen has been active in a variety of community activities, presently serving on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Area Agency on Aging. She is the two-time recipient of the Chairman’s Award for Contribution to the Bangor YMCA’s Annual Fund.

Along with her husband John, Karen lives in Brewer with her two dogs and a cat and tries to keep up with her three college-aged children.

Services/Industries

• Private Clients & Fiduciary Services
• Individuals & Families

Education

• University of Utah, S.J. Quinney School of Law (J.D.)
• Boston University School of Law (LLM)
  • Taxation with an Estate Planning Concentration
• University of Maine (M.Ed.)
• University of Toronto, Victoria College (B.A.)

Public Service

• Vice President, Eastern Area Agency on Aging
• Advisor, Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute, Class of 2028 Leaders in Newport

Bar Admissions

• Maine

Court and Other Admissions

• U.S. District Court, District of Maine

Memberships

• Director, Eastern Area Agency on Aging – 2024-Present
• Director, Maine Winter Sports Center – 2013-2014
• Director, United Way of Eastern Maine – 2014-2016
• Director, Maine State Chamber of Commerce – 2014-2015
• Director, Bangor YMCA – 2007-2013

Honors

• Listed in Best Lawyers ^® in America under Trusts and Estates and Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law in Bangor, Maine

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