Meet Our Staff at Dent Coulson Elder Law
Lisa “Kaye” DeSelms Dent
Partner
Kaye attended law school with plans to practice disability law. Having worked her way through college at the University of Illinois in Urbana assisting students with disabilities, she graduated from Hofstra University School of Law in 1996. She initially worked with a non-profit providing legal services exclusively to persons with disabilities, and, after years of practice as both a State’s Attorney and Public Defender, she returned to private practice, providing an array of Elder Law and estate planning services, focusing on Nursing Home Planning, Special Needs Planning, and Estate Planning.
As a member of Elder Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Kaye has an array of resources available for her clients’ planning needs. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Children’s Advocacy Centers Of Illinois (previously as Treasurer) and is also a member of The Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation Advisory Board for Effingham County. Kaye also Chairs the Fifth Circuit Pro Bono Committee of the Public Interest Law Initiative and enjoys accepting pro bono cases referred from various non-profit agencies, a very rewarding part of the practice of law.
Kaye speaks frequently to public and private groups regarding Estate Planning, Nursing Home Planning, Special Needs issues and other topics. She is happy to speak to any group on request, without fee.
An avid traveler and cook, Kaye considers herself to always be “between trips.” While her children have now left the nest, seeing the world through her teenagers’ eyes was very rewarding. With her family, she traveled the entire width of the country via automobile (not in a single trip!), visiting many Civil War battlefields and other National Parks sites, for a total of 29 states and 15 foreign countries visited together. Over the years, Kaye has hosted 14 foreign exchange students and maintains contact with most of them, even including a couple in travel plans over the last several years.
Kaye KNOWS that the security and peace of mind a comprehensive estate plan offers allows people to enjoy life more fully.
Paige N. Fox
Senior Attorney
Paige N. Fox is the founder of Fox Law, LLC dba Fox Elder Law & Estate Planning, LLC, a fully remote law firm in Illinois, doing of-counsel work for both Erwin Law, LLC, located in Chicago, and Dent Coulson Elder Law, located in Effingham and O’Fallon, Illinois. Paige brings compassion and expertise to her practice, assisting clients with estate planning, special needs planning, asset preservation, Medicaid planning, and various other legal matters affecting seniors and individuals with disabilities. As President of the Illinois Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and Chair for the CBA’s Young Lawyers Section Serving Our Seniors Committee, Paige demonstrates her commitment to professional development and community service, initiating the first ever membership appreciation week focused on wellness and fitness, which was free for all IL NAELA and CBA members.
Paige has been deemed a Rising Star by Super Lawyers in 2022 through current, an honor earned by only 2.5% of the top attorneys in Illinois under 40 years old or who have been practicing for 10 years or less. In June 2023, she was awarded the David C. Hilliard Award by the CBA’s Young Lawyers Section, in recognition of her outstanding committee services as Chair of the Serving Our Seniors committee.
Paige graduated from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in 2012 and earned her JD with a Certificate in Public Interest Law from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2015. Paige is also a certified Zumba and WERQ instructor, and in her free time, she enjoys pro bono work, flying trapeze, sports, dancing and board games.
Karen Webster
Practice Manager | Paralegal
Karen has been working side-by-side with Attorney Kaye DeSelms Dent since 2012. Karen wears many hats inside our Firm. Her main roles are Practice Manager and Paralegal.
As a Paralegal she works directly with clients to get the most out of the estate plans that Kaye has created, assisting with Long Term Care Planning, Probate and Trust Administration, Guardianships, and Estate Planning. As Practice Manager she works directly with staff and attorneys to make sure the day to day office is
running smoothly and she also does the accounts receivables for the Firm.
Karen grew up in rural Jasper County and now makes her home in rural Northern Edgar County with her husband of 30+ years. Having raised three boys and juggling time spent on family, work and raising livestock, she understands and is compassionate to young families trying to find their way. Karen and her husband, Tom, live on a small livestock farm raising pigs for the showpig industry and boer goats. Having grown up in a family farm situation, Karen understands the challenges that many of our farm family clients face in planning for the next generation. Whether that is trying to pay for your parent’s long term care without having to sell the family farm or dividing the farm once your parents are gone.
Karen has been a 4-H Volunteer/Leader for the past 20 years and is a past member of Chrisman School Board (2017 – 2023), serving as president for 2 years. Karen is also the song leader at her church and sings in the church choir. In her spare time, Karen enjoys being with family and friends, gardening, reading, traveling to new places, U of I basketball and the St. Louis Cardinals. As a new project, Karen has started piano lessons. Karen hopes to do more traveling in the coming years and has recently visited Helsinki, Paris, London and Madrid in a whirl wind trip through Europe. She is already planning her next trip for 2025 where she is planning a cross country trip with her mom and sister. Stay tuned to see how that works out!
Heidi D. Hagen
Paralegal
Heidi, who previously worked as a paralegal in insurance defense personal injury in Edwardsville, Illinois, joined Coulson Elder Law, LLC in June of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as an Office Administrator and Paralegal. When Coulson Elder Law, LLC merged in June 2022 with Dent Law Office, Ltd., Heidi took on the role of a full-time paralegal for the firm. Currently, she works closely with attorney William Horton assisting clients with Estate Planning, Guardianships, Trust Administration and Estate Administration.
Heidi and her family reside in O’Fallon, IL. She is originally a native of Michigan, where she grew up and attended both college and graduate school. She obtained a B.A. degree from Michigan State University (Go Spartans!) and a Juris Doctorate graduate degree from Cooley Law School, in Lansing, Michigan. Heidi has been a part of the legal arena in some shape or form since 2003, making her legal experience an asset to the Dent Coulson Elder Law team.
In her spare time, Heidi enjoys dabbling in family genealogy, camping, spending time with friends and traveling. She is becoming a regular cruiser, having already sailed to Alaska, Nova Scotia, Mexico, Honduras, Aruba, Curacao, and Hatti. In 2025 she will add Turks and Cacaos and the Dominican Republic to that list.
Karie Wines
Legal Assistant
Karie has been with the firm since 2020 as a Front Desk Receptionist and is the first person clients meet when coming to the Effingham location. She keeps busy answering the phone, scheduling appointments, and making sure the proper documents are scanned for meetings, along with a multitude of other tasks.
Born and raised in Effingham County she is the oldest of 3 children, and still resides in Effingham County. In 2006 she bought a quilting machine and started her own business quilting for others. Her hobbies include sewing, reading, gardening and spending time with family and friends, especially her 3 very active nephews, who are the love of her life.
She also enjoys sewing quilts for children’s charities, and regularly participates in “sew-days” with the local Project Linus Chapter to help complete many quilts to donate. She also is a member of the Nine Patchers Quilt Group and coordinates one day per month sew-days for the group, also making quilts to donate.
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Wesley J. “Wes” Coulson
Of Counsel
Wes Coulson is the founder and principal of Dent-Coulson Elder Law, LLC and the developer of the Better Estate Planning concept and website. He earned his B.A., with honors, from Northwestern University in 1975, and his J.D. from The
University of Michigan Law School in 1978. He is a member of the Illinois and Missouri Bars, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA), the St. Louis Estate Planning Council and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St.
Louis. He has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1978 and in Missouri since 1997, and regularly serves clients from offices in both states.
He has been a Certified Elder Law Attorney (“CELA”) since earning that designation in 2004 from the National Elder Law Foundation (www.nelf.org), the only organization authorized by the American Bar Association to confer practice area specialization in elder law.* He is one of 16 CELAs in Missouri and one of 15 in Illinois. He was the first Illinois attorney south of
Peoria to earn that designation, and is currently the only actively practicing Illinois attorney south of Peoria to hold that designation.
Wes has also earned the AEP (Accredited Estate Planner) designation from the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils (www.naepc.org), which
is awarded only to estate planning professionals in the fields of accounting, insurance and financial planning, law, philanthropy, and trust services who meet special requirements of education, experience, knowledge, professional reputation, and character. Across all of those professions, there are only about 2,000 people who hold AEP designation.*
Wes’s practice is focused in the areas of elder law, long-term care asset preservation, special needs planning, and trust and estate planning and administration. He is a member of the Illinois and Missouri chapters of NAELA,
and has given numerous continuing legal education presentations for both, as well as being the author of several articles on various elder law topics. The Illinois chapter of NAELA gave him the “Ron Runkle Award,” given
annually to honor a member’s contributions of time and knowledge.
Wes lives in Waterloo, IL with his wife, Laura. He is the proud father of two sons, Jonathon and the late Oliver Coulson, and the proud “dog father” of the office mascot, Ziggy. In his spare time, he wishes he had more of it,
and daydreams about retirement.
*Neither the Supreme Court nor the Bar of Illinois or Missouri confers or recognizes practice area specialization in the field of elder law.
