June 23, 2025- Boston, MA -The directors of Rice, Heard & Bigelow (“RHB”) are pleased to announce that Sarah M. Allen, JD, LL.M., AEP® received the 2025 Excellence Award from the Boston Estate Planning Council (BEPC). This award recognizes professional excellence in estate planning and significant contributions to the community.
Sarah was honored by her peers at BEPC’s Annual Gala held on May 21, 2025, at the Sheraton Boston Hotel.
“RH&B is proud to recognize our own Sarah M. Allen as the 2025 Boston Estate Planning Council Excellence Award winner. Sarah is a professional trustee and family advisor for numerous beneficiaries and charities. She is also an accomplished estate planning lawyer with over twenty years of experience. Her professional role requires patience, organization, collaboration and intelligence. She adds her personal demeanor which makes her a leader of the firm and a favorite among the people she serves, her colleagues and the estate planning community. We could not be happier for this incredible honor and her well-deserved recognition," said Robert G. Bannish, President of RHB.
Sarah is a long-time member of the Boston Estate Planning Council. She has served on various committees, as a board member and as an officer, and as BEPC’s president in 2019-2020. She is also a past recipient of the BEPC President’s Award. In addition, Sarah has served as chair of both the Boston Foundation’s Professional Advisor Committee and Professional Advisor Network.
Sarah is a shareholder and director at Rice, Heard & Bigelow, Inc., the oldest company of individual professional trustees in the country. Before joining Rice, Heard & Bigelow, Sarah was a partner and co-manager of the estate planning department at Pabian & Russell, LLC. She earned her bachelor of science degree from Syracuse University and both her JD and LL.M. in taxation from Boston University School of Law.
Rice, Heard & Bigelow is a privately-owned firm of professional trusties serving individuals, families and charities. The organization of the firm is unique, in that the principals are named as individual trustees, rather than the company being named as corporate trustee. We believe our structure furthers the primary goal of discreet, personal service through long-standing trustee relationships. Many of the families we advise have been with us for generations. In addition to managing and administering funded trusts, the firm also prepares income tax returns for trusts, estates, charities and individuals. Other services include wealth, tax, estate and philanthropic planning.
