Debora May

Debora May is a partner at CBM and a director of the firm’s divorce litigation, wealth management and financial planning services at CBM. She has more than 30 years of comprehensive financial planning and public accounting expertise and more than 25 years of expertise delivering investment advisory services.

Ms. May has significant experience in tax, financial planning for individuals and closely held businesses, collaborative divorce, divorce litigation support and negotiation for financial settlements in divorce. She has provided expert testimony for attorneys in divorce and real estate matters, and participated in mediations for divorce. She has also served as a financial neutral in more than 250 collaborative divorce cases. In addition, she is actively involved with individual tax work and has also represented clients in IRS and state audit matters.

Ms. May is a recognized, industry-wide expert in the divorce planning arena who has helped negotiate settlements in hundreds of cases. She has also been voted via a DC-area peer-review survey as one of the top financial planning advisors in the metropolitan Washington, DC area by Washingtonian Magazine including, most recently, in 2021. She has also been recognized twice by the publication (in 2014 and 2018) as an expert in financial issues arising from divorce. She was also featured in Investor Advisor Magazine in 2014 and 2016.

Ms. May was a co-founder of May & Barnhard, P.C., a Bethesda, Maryland-based tax and financial consulting firm that merged into CBM in November 2017. She also co-founded and continues to serve as chief investment officer of May Barnhard Investments, an independent, fee-only financial advisory and investment management firm, and a subsidiary of CBM.

Ms. May is a past president of the Collaborative Dispute Resolution Professionals of Maryland, a member of the Montgomery County Divorce Roundtable and other collaborative divorce groups, and a past board member for groups such as the Maryland Institute of Certified Financial Planners and the Maryland Collaborative Practice Council. She is also a frequent speaker for groups such as the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Maryland State Bar Association.