Gorman, Matthew M.

Ms. Dudley, a former probate and associate circuit judge, advises clients about estate planning, elder law issues, and probate and trust administration.  She focuses on helping the elderly or disabled persons who need legal assistance and the family members and friends who are their advocates or caregivers.  Having handled guardianships and conservatorships as well as decedents' estates for 12 years as a judge, Ms. Dudley is able to advise clients about the benefits of estate planning with the use of wills, revocable and irrevocable trusts, living wills, and durable powers of attorney.  She is also adept at handling probate and trust controversies among families.  Her professional and personal experiences make her particularly qualified to advise on minimizing family conflict and avoiding the costly and often painful court process involved in litigation.

Ms. Dudley is comfortable in both advising 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 35 years at national and state conferences across the country.