tom@gpnalaw.com
Phone: (605) 342-1078
Fax: (605)342-9503
Estate Planning
Estate Administration
Guardianship &
Conservatorship
Property Law
Taxation
Trusts
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Thomas E. Simmons is a partner with the Rapid City law firm of Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP where he is a member of the firm's Business and Estate Planning group. Tom's areas of practice include estate planning, elder law, asset protection, real property, and probate. He received his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1998 and is licensed to practice law in South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska.
As a member of the State Bar of South Dakota, Tom serves on its Real Property Probate and Trust Section's Executive Board. He founded and chairs the State Bar's Elder Law Committee. He serves on the Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law of the American Bar Association.
Tom is also an active member of the West River Estate Planning Council and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He is the founder and President of Pooled Advocate Trust, Inc. which manages South Dakota's first pooled asset protection trust for individuals with disabilities. His civic involvements include serving as a member of the board of directors of the Dakotas United Methodist Foundation, the Western Dakota Technial Institue Foundation, and the Friends of the Rapid City Public Library.
Tom's passion for writing and education is evident through his publication of wide ranging articles in national legal periodicals and his frequent public speaking engagements on estate planning, and asset protection issues. Prior to joining Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP, he was a federal law clerk, a fourth grade teacher, and a college instructor of constitutional law. He has lived in Rapid City, South Dakota since 1975.
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- State Bar of South Dakota
- State Bar of Nebraska
- State Bar of Wyoming
- Pennington County Bar Association
- American Bar Association
- West River Estate Planning Council
- National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
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- South Dakota - 1998
- Nebraska - 2001
- Wyoming - 2009
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- University of South Dakota, J.D., with honors, 1998
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- University of South Dakota, B.S., 1991
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- Instructor, "Constitutional History," National American University, 1998-1999.
- Law Clerk to Senior Judge Andrew W. Bogue, U.S. District Court, South Dakota, 1998-2000.
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- Article, "Using Trusts to Settle Lawsuits," 19 Probate & Property 6, 2005.
- Article, "When Gift Planning Goes Awry," 27 National Law Journal, 2005.
- Article, "A Guide to South Dakota's Disability Discrimination Laws," 47 South Dakota Law Review, 389, 2002.
- Article, "'Working with the ADA's 'Regarded As' Definition of a Disability," 5 Texas Forum on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights 27, 2000.
- Article, "The ADA Prima Facie Plaintiff: A Critical Overview of Eighth Circuit Case Law," 47 Drake Law Review, 761, 1999.
- Comment: "Highways, Hunters, and Section Lines: Tensions Between Public Access and Private Rights," 2 Great Plains Natural Resources Journal 240, 1997.
- Note: "Twisted Interests: People in Interest of S.A.H. and the State of Open Adoptions in South Dakota," 42 South Dakota Law Review, 537, 1997.
- Article, “Decanting and Its Alternatives: Remodeling and Revamping Irrevocable Trusts", 55 SOUTH DAKOTA LAW REVIEW 253 (2010)
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