Places in the Hart: Wills for Heroes

We held our third annual Wills for Heroes estate-planning clinic yesterday in Daingerfield. By "we", I mean members of District 14 of the Paralegal Division of the State of Texas (PD), members of the Northeast Texas Association of Paralegals (NTAP), and lawyers from Longview, Paris, and Daingerfield.

We prepared Wills, Medical Powers of Attorney, General Durable Powers of Attorney, Directives to Physicians, and HIPAA Authorizations for 31 veterans and spouses from 10 Texas counties. What a day! We unlocked the door at 7:30 a.m. and locked it back up at 7:00 p.m. By the time we got home, Lonnie and I were dead on our feet. And we only had to drive a few minutes. Most of our folks had an hour's drive to get home.

Our sponsors for the event were:

Morris County Judge Lynda Sue Munkres and Veterans Service Officer James Garner, who arranged for us to use the Courthouse Annex building free of charge, and sent Keith, a county trusty, who buffed the floors, helped set up tables and chairs, and was just an all-round big help;
Texas Document Solutions, who delivered and set up three printer/copier machines for our use, all free of charge;
iDocket, who paid for the badly-needed lunch and refreshments for the workers; and
Nix, Patterson & Roach, LLP, who provided coffee and refreshments for the waiting veterans.

We couldn't have done it without you guys!

Our wonderful lawyers were:

Drew Pate, from Longview, but who works at Nix, Patterson & Roach's Daingerfield office, and brought his 4-month-old son to entertain us;
Elizabeth Fulton, from Longview, who came early and stayed late--what a trouper;
Kristy Rodgers, from the Paris office of Lone Star Legal Aid, who kept a smile all day;
Kelly Heitcamp, from Longview, who entertained the veterans she worked with;
Jonathan Wharton, from Longview, a very young lawyer who was excited to help us out; and
Steve Cowan, Morris County Attorney, who did such a great job of explaining documents to the veterans.

Paralegals who worked the clinic (without a single nervous breakdown) were:

Sandi Clarke, NTAP President and PD member;
Crystal Roberts, NTAP member;
Andrea Brunson, NTAP 1st Vice-President and PD member;
LaCresia Qualls-Tolbert, from Nix, Patterson & Roach; and
Yours truly, Mona Tucker, PD District 14 Director and NTAP NALA Liaison.

Helpers who witnessed documents, made coffee, made copies, picked up lunch, set up and then put away tables and chairs, and just generally did anything asked of them, were:

Lonnie Tucker, my sweetie and USAF veteran;
Dave Clarke, Sandi's sweetie and US Army veteran; and
Deborah Hamilton, NTAP student member.

We were also joined by Kerry Easley from the Texas Veterans Commission, and James Garner, Morris County Veteran Services Officer, who talked with veterans who had questions about their claims or benefits available to them.

Our veterans seemed grateful for the services we provided. If you've ever had to deal with a probate situation where there was no Will, you can understand why these documents are so important. Yet, so many of these veterans, like so many other people I know, probably make too much money to get any kind of help, but don't have enough money to pay for legal services.

We can never repay these veterans for what they've done for us, but we can do this! Plan to join us next November in Canton, and in the Lufkin/Nacogdoches area in 2015.