Elizabeth A. Hartnett, Esq., CPA, joined Mackenzie Hughes in 2004 as a partner with an emphasis in wealth management services. Her many areas of expertise include family business entities, business tax and succession planning, pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, fiduciary compliance, investment counsel, estate planning, fiduciary services and estate settlement, as well as private foundations, charitable giving and specialty trusts for the private client. Her clients include some of the most prominent individuals, families, business owners, professionals, trustees, executors, guardians, and family charitable trusts and foundations in the region.

In 1971, after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Syracuse University's College of Business Administration, Betsy attended Syracuse University College of Law, where she graduated with a Juris Doctorate in 1974. She was admitted to the New York State Bar and became a licensed Certified Public Accountant in 1975. Betsy also manages investments through our sister firm Mackenzie Hughes & Hartnett Investment Advisors LLC, an Investment Advisory registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

An active member of several professional associations, Betsy is a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates Counsel and the New York Bar Foundation. She is chair elect of the Trusts and Estates Section of the New York Bar Association. She is Chair of the Board for Syracuse Stage and Chair of the Crouse Hospital Board. She periodically lectures on wealth management and estates and trusts law topics for the New York State Bar Association and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

As a preeminent attorney in her field, she has authored several legal publications including the New York Practice Guide - Probate and Estate Administration and Legal Commentaries for LexisNexis and was a contributing writer for the Syracuse Law Review's Survey of New York Law and Warren Heaton's on Surrogate's Courts. She currently serves as an Editorial Advisor of the American College of Trust's and Estates Counsel's Pocket Tax Tables. She has been listed in the Trusts and Estates Section of "Best Lawyers in America" for 2008 and the previous eleven years and was named as one of the 25 Top Women Attorneys in the 2008 New York Super Lawyers Upstate Edition.

In her spare time, Betsy enjoys yoga, tennis and running (including the New York Marathon in November 2005), playing bridge with her husband, and climbing. She also enjoys spending time with her 3 children and 8 grandchildren.