May is an important month for us as it’s not only Elder Law Month, but also Older Americans month, where we can reflect on the ways we’re serving this community and celebrate the theme #PoweredByConnection by highlighting our collaboration with other attorneys to ensure aging Texans are in the best hands. Not only are older Americans strengthened and empowered by being involved community members, but the more we all come together, the better we can support those who are aging.
Similar to how a foot doctor would not treat appendicitis, attorneys that hone their skills in specific areas of law are able to be accurate and precise in their counsel, providing the best outcomes and legal work. Our primary focus at Ard Law Firm is securing long-term care for our clients, sometimes this involves specific estate planning and probate, but there are certain cases that fall outside our domain and would be best handled by a firm like Hoggatt Law Firm.
Founder and head attorney, Alisa M. Hoggatt concentrates her practice in estate planning and probate law, business planning and tax law, providing estate administration and probate services to executors, trustees, heirs, and beneficiaries in matters involving probate, estates, and trusts, general business matters, formation and financing of business ventures, entity choice and formation considerations for business entities, asset protection, and tax planning for businesses and their owners.
Just looking at Ms. Hoggatt’s specific areas of practice, it’s clear that practicing law gets very specific and detailed. So we sat down with her to discuss the unique ways our law firms serve aging Texans as we celebrate Older Americans Month alongside Elder Law Month.
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Since “elder law” is a rather obscure term, how do you know when a client is in the right place?
Alisa Hoggatt (AH): We always ask a few more questions to make sure they are in the right place. If someone mentions “Medicaid”, “nursing home”, “assisted living options” or anything similar, we know that’s an automatic “Give The Ard Law Firm a call!” referral! Alternatively, If someone says they are just trying to be the point person for their family member because they are “older” and they need a basic estate planning package, we set them up with a consult with our firm.
Connor Ard (CA): That sounds like our intake process, but in reverse. We refer to you when someone only wants to discuss Estate Planning and doesn’t want to discuss long-term care planning or Veteran’s Aid & Attendance.
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What are the most important values at the Hoggatt Law Firm?
AH: We try really hard to offer effective and efficient options to clients depending on their needs and desires. We strive for excellent customer service. We also know that no 2 clients are going to walk out with the exact same plan, everything is tailored to them and their situation/family dynamic.
CA: Both of our firms really focus on centering the client, working within their values and goals to ensure their plan is what they envisioned for themselves and their loved ones.
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We briefly outlined your areas of practice in the intro, but give us some of the specifics—how do the services at the Hoggatt Law Firm meet the unique needs of the typical Texas Family?
AH: We want every Texan to have an estate plan regardless of asset size. That means making sure our community has not only a basic will (or trust) but also the very important over looked incapacity planning documents (POAs, etc.) as those sometimes become more important as our population ages!
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Now, this is not legal advice, but what common misconception about your work do you wish you could correct once and for all?
AH: The biggest misconception is that if I have a will I don’t go through probate. I often tell people that we can intentionally avoid probate with different options on the estate planning side, but, if you have a will, it doesn’t “spring to life” until going through the probate process. We will often get calls that say “I’m the executor of mom’s estate in her will” and we will ask “when did you go through probate” and they say “I didn’t, but mom’s will said I was and it says I get everything so I do.” Well, not until that will has been admitted to probate and you’ve been appointed by a court!
CA: We hear a lot of similar misconceptions—which makes sense because you often get into the legal jargon pretty quickly in our work. Or even just the fact that Medicaid and Medicare are so close in spelling, but completely different programs.
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What’s your favorite part of this line of work?
AH: I really enjoy how client-facing these areas of law are – lots of client contact and holding their hand through either the planning or probate process. Usually that means having to ask the hard questions but in a compassionate way. Helping people realize what plan they need to accomplish their goals whether it’s on the estate planning, business, probate or tax side is very rewarding!
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Share a success story where you really feel like your experience, knowledge, and passion came together to help your client(s).
AH: I had a recent client who had a very complicated estate. They owned several pieces of property in Texas and in other states, as well as several businesses. We were able to set them up with a Revocable Living Trust structure that had their specific desires (that were different for different pieces pf property and the businesses) to avoid probate when either of the spouses passes away. We got them introduced to attorneys in other states to handle those property and everything is in line with their wishes!
CA: Thank you so much, Alisa, for sharing your thoughts on these important aspects of the law with us. It’s very meaningful to have this sort of exchange and show how focusing our skills on very specific aspects of the law really helps us to serve our community in impactful ways. Ard Law Firm really appreciates having the Hoggatt Law Firm on our roster.
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