Neil E. Hendershot practices law with Tucker Arensberg, P.C., in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The law firm is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, and has other offices in Moon Township (Corapolis), in Sewickley, and in Lewistown, Pennsylvania.

Neil authors the "PA Elder, Estate & Fiduciary Law Blog", and also the "PA HealthCare DecisionMaking" website.

Neil was educated at Bucknell University (B.A., English, 1973), and The Dickinson School of Law (J.D., 1976), which is now affiliated with Pennsylvania State University.

In 1976-77, he served as law clerk to President Judge Martin J. Coyne, of the Orphans' Court Division, of the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. He served as the Solicitor for Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (1984-85), and as the Solicitor for the Dauphin County General Authority (1984-2000). He is a graduate of the Leadership Harrisburg Area Program (1990).

Neil participates actively in state and local bar association activities. In 2002-03, Neil served as Chairman of the Real Property, Probate & Trust Law Section, of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He has served as an Editor of that Section's bi-annual Newsletter continuously since 1983 to date. He is currently (2007-09) that Section's elected delegate to the PBA House of Delegates, and is serving a three-year term on the RPPT Section's governing Council.

Neil served as President of the Dauphin County Bar Association (1999-2000), and served on its Board of Directors from 1992-2001. Neil has served as a Chairman of the Dauphin County Bar Association's Orphans' Court Rules Committee since 1989 to date. In 1991, he organized and was elected as the Founding Chairman of the DCBA's Estate Planning & Probate Law Section. He planned & conducted for that practice section a "Probate Bench-Bar breakfast" (2004-06), now sponsored (2009) by PNC and its PNC Wealth Management affiliate.

In October 2004, Neil was a PBA spokesperson for its statewide publicity campaign, conducted with the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General on Living Trust Abuse, entitled “Protect Your Family’s Future … Today: The Truth About Wills and Trusts” (County Line, p. 9). Neil has also advocated for change in the laws regarding powers of attorney. See: Final "Courting Trouble" Article on POA Abuse (PA EE&F Law Blog, 09/05/07). He lectured to the York County (PA) Bar Association (11/08), the Dauphin County (PA) Bar Association (02/12/09), and the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges (02/19/09) in Pittsburgh about elder abuse and the roles that attorneys and the judicial system can play in its supression.

Neil is active also in community activities. Since 1978, he has been a member of the Estate Planning Council of Central Pennsylvania, Inc., having served as its Presidentin (1987-88). Neil served as President of the American Heart Association, Pennsylvania Affiliate, Capital Region Division (1995-96), with a position on its board from 1981 to 1996. He co-chaired the Lawyers' Division of the Annual Campaign of the United Way of the Capital Region (1997-99). Neil is a "Founding Sponsor" of the Museum of the Antique Automobile Club of America, organized in 1992, and located in Hershey, PA. He is a Rotarian and a Mason.

Neil provides input to the PA Legislature on laws affecting seniors. Since 1992, Neil has served as a member of the "Advisory Committee on Decedents' Estate Laws", of the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission. He has been active on its legislative drafting subcommittees, including those on "Guardianships", Powers of Attorney" (effective 1999), "Transfers on Death", "Health Care Powers of Attorney" (effective 2007), and the Pennsylvania version of a "Uniform Trust Act" (effective 2006), under the PA Probate, Estates & Fiduciaries Code (Title 20, PA Consolidated Statutes).

Currently he participates on active JSGC-ACDEL drafting subcommittees or legislative study committees on issues of: "Transfers without Grant of Letters", "Guardianships & Durable Powers of Attorney", "Alternative Dispute Resolution", "Assisted Reproductive Technologies", and "Disposition of Remains" (which he chairs).

In 2002, Neil proposed (through the PBA RPPT Section), and the PA Legislature then authorized during a Special Legislative Session, the creation of a new JSGC advisory committee on "Real Property Laws", which was established & has become active in codifying Pennsylvania's laws regarding real estate.

Neil was appointed in 2008 to serve as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's seven-member Orphans' Court Procedural Rules Committee for a three-year term.

Neil teaches regularly & often. Since 1978, he has lectured annually for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute on topics of estate planning, document drafting, elder law, estate & trust administration, death taxation, personal planning for pet owners, and legal automation. He planned PBI's statewide courses on Act 39's Power of Attorney Reforms (1999) and on End-of-Life Legal Issues (2005). He was a key participant in the PBI statewide course on the new PA Uniform Trust Act (Fall, 2006).

He also served as the course planner for a PBI call-in course Personal Health Care Decision Making in Pennsylvania: An Analysis of Act 169 (January, 2007) and as a participant in the PBI course Health Care Directives & Powers of Attorney - 2007. In September, 2007, Neil, together with Professor Gerry W. Beyer, of Texas Tech University School of Law (& author of the respected Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog), presented a PBI audio course on "Estate Planning for Pets", for which he constructed the educational website, Pet Owners Planning.

He has also made presentations to numerous estate planning councils or local bar associations in Pennsylvania, including those in Carlisle, Chambersburg, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, Norristown, Selinsgrove, & York.

From 2000-06, he taught advanced estate planning & administration at Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg Campus) as an Adjunct Professor; and, since 2005 to date, Neil has taught an "Elder Law" course at a seminar level. He also serves on the Board of Visitors for Widener Law School's "Law & Government Institute", in Harrisburg.

Neil is an elected Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Council (ACTEC), a national professional group of approximately 2,600 lawyers, with only approximately 100 Fellows in Pennsylvania. He was selected for "Best Lawyers in America" annual publications (2000-2009), and in annual Philadelphia Magazine Super Lawyers issues (2004-2009). He is an"AV"-rated lawyer by Martindale-Hubbell, and carries a 9.9 ("superb") rating by Avvo.

Neil practices in the areas of elder law, personal & estate planning, family business succession, estate & trust administration, Orphans' Court (PA probate court) litigation, real estate, and charitable organizations.

To contact Neil, please email him at NHendershot@tuckerlaw.com or HendershotNE@gmail.com.