Catharine Fairley is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner as well as a CPA and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst™. Catharine graduated from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, Summa Cum Laude. She studied international accounting, for a year, at Southampton University in Southampton, England on a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship. She moved to the United States in 1987 to join Arthur Anderson in Washington, DC, and since then has accumulated over 30 years of experience in financial, tax, expat and investment planning as well as assisting attorneys with the tax and financial aspects of divorce. She is collaboratively trained as a financial neutral in divorce matters and has been qualified as an expert witness in Frederick and Montgomery counties. She has currently a member of the Financial Planning Association and its National Capital Area group, as well as the Maryland Association of CPAs, the American Institute of CPAs, the Institute of Divorce Financial Analysts, and the Western Maryland collaborative practice group.

She is a member of the Frederick County Women’s Giving Circle and the Tivoli Society of the Weinberg Center for the Arts. She has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation of Frederick County, the Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, Community Living, Heartly House, Mother Seton School and other local charities. Ms. Fairley has had several articles on planning topics published and has been profiled in the New York Times for a family money makeover. She was a regular tax columnist for the Frederick News Post and still speaks regularly to various groups in the area on financial, divorce, and tax planning matters.

Note: Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP® , CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and federally registered CFP (with flame logo), which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements.