Bethann Boudah Chapman
Attorney

907.523.6147
907.586.8090 fax

Education

J.D. 1988
University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Oregon

Order of the Coif

B.A. Political Science 1981
St. Michael’s College, Winooski, Vermont

Birth Information

1960, Northhampton, Massachusetts

Admitted to Practice

Alaska State Courts

United States District Court, District of Alaska

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

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Profile

Ms. Chapman joined Faulkner Banfield in 1988. Ms. Chapman advises clients on complex estate planning, business succession planning, elder law, and probate and trust litigation.  Ms. Chapman is recognized for her skill in delivering complex trust and estate strategies to meet the unique needs of Alaskans, as well as her ability to help non-Alaskans use Alaska’s ground-breaking trust laws to achieve their estate planning goals.  Ms. Chapman advises small to medium-sized businesses on matters relating to business structure, compensation and retirement planning, health insurance, and local, state and federal taxes, including employment-related taxes.  She also advises clients on state tax laws, including income, oil and gas, and fisheries taxes and appears before the Alaska Department of Revenue. Ms. Chapman’s clients appreciate her ability to provide a common sense approach to gift and estate tax planning, as well as her knowledge of advanced planning techniques including revocable trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts and charitable trusts.  Ms. Chapman is a frequent speaker across the State of Alaska on the topics of retirement plans, estate planning and long-term care planning. She is actively involved in helping develop Alaska’s trust laws, including self-settled spendthrift trusts. Ms. Chapman holds an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell.

Civic and Charitable Work

Ms. Chapman is past Chair of the American Red Cross of Alaska.  She is a past member of the Harborview School PTA board and an ongoing classroom volunteer.  Ms. Chapman performs frequent pro-bono work for non-profit organizations, including Arts for Kids, Inc, Juneau Youth Sailing Foundation, Inc, and Juneau Community Foundation.

Professional Associations

Ms. Chapman is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, a select group of attorneys who are internationally recognized in the practice of estate planning, probate and trust law (www.actec.org) and a Trustee of the Alaska Bar Foundation.

She is also a member of the American Bar Association sections of Taxation, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Alaska Bar Association Estate Planning and Probate Law Section and Elder Law Section, the Alaska Bar Association Fee Arbitration Committee, and the Southeast Alaska Estate Planning Council. 

Ms. Chapman serves on the Board of Directors for Alaska Pacific Bank, Inc. and its parent company, Alaska Pacific Bancshares, Inc.

Representative
Cases

Last Will and Testament of Tamplin, 48 P.3d 47 (Alaska 2002)
Established rule that a will cannot revoke a revocable trust unless expressly authorized by the trust instrument.

Olsen Logging v. Lawson, 856 P. 2d 1155 (Alaska 1993)
Established rule that a worker’s compensation settlement cannot be set aside because of unilateral or mutual mistakes of fact.

Olsen Logging v. Lawson, 832 P.2d 174 (Alaska 1992)
Established rule that less stringent standard of serious and substantial questions shall apply when an employer seeks to stay an appeal of a lump sum worker’s compensation award.

Holmberg v. State, 796 P.2d 883 (Alaska 1990)
Established rule that State of Alaska is not collaterally estopped by a disability determination rendered by the Alaska Public Employee Retirement System in a workers compensation proceeding.