104 Wyncrest Way, Suite 100 • Hendersonville, TN 37075 • (615) 824-2571
Tennessee's Premier Elder Law & Estate Planning Firm
Certified by the National Elder Law Foundation as a Certified Elder Law Attorney, Tim Takacs was one of the first elder law attorneys in the nation to assemble an interdisciplinary team of experts to provide integrated client care. His innovations have transformed the practice of elder law in the United States and have set a new standard of excellence in the field.
Tim began his legal career in 1980, right after graduating from law school. He joined three other lawyers to open a general practice in Hendersonville. After he had been practicing law for about 10 years, an older gentleman walked into his office.
“My wife just went into a nursing home,” he told Tim, “and I don’t know what to do.”
Tim said, “I don’t know either. But I’m going to find out how I can help you.”
Tim found out how to help this gentleman. In the mid-nineties he began adding non-lawyer health care professionals to his staff, including registered nurses and a licensed master social worker, to address quality of life and care issues that the challenge of old age and disability presents to his clients.
Since then, he has never stopped trying to make life better for the thousands of clients and families who have sought his help. Tim refers to his firm as a "Life Care Planning law firm" and the goal of his practice as "elder-centered." This means that, while a traditional elder law firm may focus on saving assets for the older client's children, Tim's practice centers on maximizing the older client's quality of life and independence. Tim and other members of his firm have taught the fundamentals of life care planning practice to hundreds of lawyers throughout the United States. He is a founding member of the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association (LCPLFA) and was the Association’s first president.
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As a colleague wrote about him, Tim “is an easygoing and warm but tremendously intelligent and practical lawyer who exhibits both pride in his work, humility in his accomplishments, and a sense of humor about it all. Tim is a rare individual, a lawyer who takes his mission seriously, but not himself.”
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​Tim is a founding member of the Special Needs Alliance, an organization of the nation’s leading lawyers on issues pertaining to persons with disabilities and special needs. In 2000 he incorporated Vista Points, Inc., a non-profit corporation to establish and manage The Tennessee Pooled Trust, which is Tennessee's first "special needs pooled trust.” He has been a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the nation's preeminent professional organization for elder law attorneys, since 1991, and was a member of NAELA’s Board of Directors from 2004-2008.
Tim organized the Tennessee Bar Association’s Elder Law section and was the section’s first chairperson. In 2006, he helped found the Life Care Planning Law Firms Association and was the LCPLFA's first president, and in 2008, he was appointed to the Tennessee Bar Association House of Delegates. Tim is also one of the principals of Life Care Consulting LLC, a consulting firm that helps attorneys launch successful Life Care Planning practices.
Tim writes for and gives presentations regularly to attorneys and other professionals about elder law. He is the founder of The NAELA eBulletin, a weekly newsletter of current news and cases that is now published by the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys as a benefit exclusively for NAELA members. He is also the author of Elder Law Practice in Tennessee (Lexis/Nexis, 1998; supplemented annually) and A Guide to Elder Law Practice (Lexis, 2007).
He is the recipient (with co-author David L. McGuffey, CELA) of the NAELA John Regan Writing Award for 2004, which is awarded by NAELA for the most original and influential article published in the NAELA Quarterly during the year. He is also a recipient of the 2003 NAELA President's Award. Tim has received extensive recognition for his legal expertise, including being named to the Midsouth Super Lawyers list, the Best Lawyers list, the Super Lawyers Top 100 in Tennessee list and many others.
Tim was honored with a Sage Award in 2021 for his significant and positive impact on the lives of older adults in Middle Tennessee. To honor the memory of his grandparents Wes and Helen Powley, in 2000 Tim established the NAELA Powley Award, which is presented annually to a NAELA member who in his or her community promotes a greater understanding of the rights and needs of elders and persons with special needs.
Tim is an organizing member of Friends of the Arts and Literature in Sumner County (FOALS), a 501(c)(3) organization devoted to promoting the literary and performing arts in Sumner County, Tennessee.
Tim is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Vanderbilt University School of Law. He has been in private practice in Hendersonville, Tennessee since 1980. He lives in Hendersonville with his wife, Lynn, and their cats Josie, Dixie, Mabel, Kiera, Gavin, and Nate.