Elder Law

Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, provides a broad range of services for individuals who are interested in financial, estate and disability planning. Members of the Estate Planning, Elder Law, and Tax Practice Group assist clients and their families with long-range planning for disability and with the practical details of long-term care, if that becomes necessary. The legal services include advice about irrevocable and revocable trusts, special needs trusts, living wills, durable powers of attorney, choices for long-term care, and guardianship and conservatorship proceedings.

Kathie B. Dudley focuses on helping the elderly or disabled person who needs assistance and also the family members and friends who are caregivers, attorneys in fact under a durable power of attorney, or court-appointed guardians and conservators. Her prior experience as the judge of the Lincoln County Probate and Associate Divisions in the 11^th Judicial Circuit for 12 years proves invaluable in working with clients. From her professional and personal experiences, Ms. Dudley is able to advise clients about the benefits of thoughtful disability planning in order to conserve assets, minimize family conflict, and avoid the painful and costly court process involved in guardianship and conservatorship. Having worked as a volunteer in nursing homes and assisted living villages for 20 years, Ms. Dudley has a practical knowledge of elder care. She and the other members of the practice group assist in making arrangements for appropriate care, whether in the individual’s home, assisted living, residential care, or a skilled nursing unit.

Ms. Dudley is licensed to practice in Missouri and Illinois. Ms. Dudley is comfortable in both advisory and adversarial roles because of her diverse legal experiences, including assistant district attorney in Denver, Colorado; city attorney for the city of Elsberry, Missouri; prosecutor for the Juvenile Division of Lincoln and Pike Counties; the general practice of law in Lincoln County, Missouri; and assistant counsel in the Corporate Law Department of State Farm Insurance Companies in Bloomington, Illinois.

Always active in her profession, community and church, Ms. Dudley has worked with a variety of people in government, volunteer and charitable organizations, and not-for-profit corporations. For 16 years, she served on the Board of Trustees of Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Missouri. She has served as president of the Missouri Association of Probate and Associate Circuit Judges and as chair of the Missouri Bar Juvenile Courts and Law Committee. Ms. Dudley has also served as president of such organizations as the Elsberry Chamber of Commerce and the Troy Business & Professional Women's Club. A former lecturer at the Missouri Trial College and the Missouri Judicial Conference, Ms. Dudley has been a professional speaker for 30 years at national and state conferences across the country.