When clients face complex legal challenges or seek guidance for estate planning, they need more than just a lawyer; they require a trusted advisor who combines experience, judgment, and the ability to navigate both courtroom battles and intricate transactions. Nicholas P. Hoeft, Senior Associate at Jostock & Jostock, P.A., is one such attorney. Since joining the firm in 2008, he has built a reputation for skill, reliability, and comprehensive legal knowledge, especially in the areas of probate, trust, real estate, corporate law, and taxation.

Educational Foundation and Early Years

Nicholas’s legal path was paved with strong academic credentials. He attended Loyola University Chicago, earning both his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and English and, subsequently, his Juris Doctor (J.D.). This dual focus—on the humanities as well as law—equips Nicholas with a rare balance: strong analytical reasoning, combined with a refined ability to communicate complex legal ideas clearly to clients, courts, and opposing counsel.

He began practicing law in 2007, then solidified his professional journey by joining Jostock & Jostock, P.A. in the spring of 2008. Over these many years, he has steadily taken on more responsibility, broadening his expertise and deepening his familiarity with the Illinois legal system.

Key Practice Areas

Nicholas’s professional work spans several interconnected fields that often overlap and inform one another. This multidimensional practice allows him to address legal issues holistically. Some of his primary practice areas include:

1. Estate & Succession Planning
   Designing legal plans for clients to manage and distribute their assets both during life and after death; this includes wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and more.

2. Probate & Trust Administration
   Helping executors, administrators, and trustees manage assets, settle debts, distribute inheritances, and carry out the terms of wills or trusts. This also involves handling guardianship estates and overseeing fiduciary responsibilities.

3. Litigation (Probate Court & Beyond)
   When disputes arise—over wills, trusts, beneficiaries, or fiduciary duties—Nicholas represents clients in contested matters, engaging in hearings, motions, trials, and appeals across courts throughout Illinois, including trial court, appellate court, and in some cases, the Illinois Supreme Court.

4. Real Estate Transactions
   He assists clients (individuals and corporate entities alike) with buying, selling, leasing, and otherwise dealing with residential and commercial property. This includes drafting, negotiating, and closing complex transactions involving real estate assets.

5. Corporate Representation
   Handling corporate issues spanning formation, structuring, contracting, compliance, and business transitions. This helps businesses stay properly organized and positioned for growth.

6. Taxation Issues
   Navigating the interplay of state and federal tax law with estates, trusts, gifts, property transfers, and business taxation. He works to ensure clients receive favorable outcomes and avoid unintended tax consequences.

Litigation Expertise

Litigation is a major component of Nicholas’s work, and one where he has built an especially robust reputation. What does this entail?

• Varied Jurisdictions & Courts: He practices in the chancery, probate, municipal, and law divisions of several important counties in Illinois—most notably Cook, Lake, and DuPage. These counties contain some of the busiest courts in the state, meaning the legal issues are often high-stakes and complex.

• Appellate & Supreme Court Advocacy: His appellate work includes presenting arguments before the Illinois Appellate Court, and he has argued cases before the Illinois Supreme Court—a not-insignificant accomplishment that demonstrates recognition of his legal skills and the trust clients and his firm place in him.

• Probate and Trust Disputes: Many of his cases involve will contests, trust controversies, beneficiaries’ rights, fiduciary misconduct, and claims to recover or discover assets (“citations”). He represents heirs, legatees, trustees, executors, administrators in both contested and uncontested proceedings.

• Estate & Guardianship Litigation: In addition to handling estates after death, Nicholas is involved in guardianship matters—where an individual is appointed to manage either the personal or property affairs of someone unable to do so (a minor or incapacitated adult). Disputes in these cases often require sensitivity, strong procedural knowledge, and persuasive advocacy.

Because litigation can be emotionally charged and legally intricate, Nicholas’s experience in both courtroom procedure and appellate advocacy is a major asset. Clients looking for counsel who can defend their rights—and, when necessary, pursue remedies—will find in him someone with both the tenacity and the legal insight to see things through.

Transactional and Advisory Work

While litigation often garners more public attention, it’s in the transactional and advisory side where many legal problems are prevented before they begin. Nicholas excels in these quieter—but no less critical—aspects of law.

• Contract Drafting & Negotiation: Whether for individuals, trustees, business entities, or real estate transactions, drafting solid contracts that precisely reflect clients’ intentions—and protect their rights—is a cornerstone of his practice.

• Real Estate Deals: From purchasing homes or commercial property to complex multi-party transactions, Nicholas guides clients through due diligence, title issues, zoning, financing, and closing. He also handles residential and commercial leases, boundary disputes, and related property rights.

• Corporate & Business Issues: Forming businesses, advising on corporate governance, structuring ownership, succession planning for closely held businesses, mergers or asset transfers—all of these fall in his purview. He understands that many clients aren’t lawyers, so he translates legal complexities into clear, actionable advice.

• Estate Plan Design & Implementation: Estate planning isn’t just drafting a will—Nicholas helps clients think through their goals (who they want to protect, how, when distributions happen, who makes decisions if they are incapacitated), implements trusts, addresses tax implications, and devises structures that adapt to changing circumstances (like marriages, births, deaths, changes in asset composition, tax law changes, etc.).

Experience & Breadth of Practice

Over the years, Nicholas has amassed substantial experience:

• Geographic Reach: He has administered probate estates in over 25 Illinois counties. This means he’s familiar with the varying court procedures, administrative requirements, and local judge/court personnel practices across different jurisdictions.

• Variety of Clients: His clients include high-net-worth individuals, closely held businesses, multigenerational families, heirs, legatees, executors, trustees, guardians, plaintiffs and defendants in dispute, and more. Because of this variety, he is attuned to both the legal complexities and the personal priorities clients bring to each matter.

• Licensed Jurisdictions: He is licensed to practice in the State of Illinois, the U.S. Federal Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and the U.S. Tax Court. These credentials allow him to handle matters that cross state or federal lines, especially in taxation or business issues.

• Professional Affiliations: He is an active member of key bar associations, including the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association. These affiliations keep him up to date on legal trends, continuing education, and professional ethics.

What Sets Nicholas P. Hoeft Apart

If you’re comparing attorneys, what distinguishes Nicholas is not just his credentials, but how he blends them into service that’s client-centered, nuanced, and proactive. Some of the features that set him apart include:

• Depth + Breadth: It’s rare to find someone equally comfortable with courtroom drama (will contests, fiduciary duty litigation) and quiet, careful planning (estate design, tax strategy, business structuring). Nicholas operates in both realms with competence and confidence.

• Personalized Approach: Legal issues of family, death, inheritance, disability, business—all these are deeply personal. Nicholas demonstrates the ability to understand each client’s goals, values, and concerns, then tailor his legal strategies to fit—not simply applying templates, but crafting plans and arguments that align with what the client truly wants.

• Litigation as Needed, but Avoiding Unnecessary Conflict: While fully capable in litigation, Nicholas also understands when disputes can be resolved more efficiently via negotiation, mediation, or structuring. His transactional practice helps many clients avoid litigation entirely by getting things right from the start.

• Proven Track Record: Being the primary litigator at his firm, having been trusted with cases in trial, appellate, and even supreme courts means clients trust him not only to take a matter, but to see it through at every stage. Having administered estates in dozens of counties, he has hands-on experience with the varied procedural landscapes of the Illinois probate system.

• Tax & Regulatory Savvy: Estate planning involves more than wills—it involves an understanding of tax law, trust law, estate and gift taxes, income tax issues, and sometimes federal court regulations. Nicholas has the credentials and practice to handle these overlapping areas, including in the U.S. Tax Court as needed.

Typical Client Scenarios & What Nicholas Offers

To illustrate how his expertise comes into play, here are a few representative scenarios in which clients benefit from his services:

• High-Net-Worth Individual Planning: A client with substantial assets wants to ensure that, upon their death, their assets pass smoothly to their heirs, minimizing taxes and avoiding probate delays. Nicholas designs trusts or other structures, counsels on gift strategies, setting up powers of attorney and healthcare directives, and drafting precise documents that conform to current Illinois law and federal tax codes.

• Estate Dispute: Perhaps siblings contest a will, or a trustee is accused of breaching fiduciary duties. Nicholas takes on representation of heirs, legatees, or fiduciaries, litigates where necessary, argues motions for discovery or removal of certain fiduciaries, and—if needed—presents cases in court or appellate court.

• Business Succession: A closely held business wants to pass to the next generation. Nicholas helps with structuring ownership, buy-sell agreements, succession planning, and integrating this with the owners’ personal estate plans to ensure both business continuity and personal asset protection.

• Real Estate Transaction with Complicated Aspects: Whether for a family or entity, there might be zoning concerns, title issues, unclear boundary lines, or lease problems. Nicholas can manage the legal side: negotiating terms, reviewing title, resolving boundary/title disputes, ensuring due diligence, and preparing closing documents.

• Probate Administration for Estates in Multiple Counties: Sometimes clients are personal representatives of estates, or trustees of trusts, that have assets or responsibilities spread across multiple jurisdictions. That means different court rules, different filing requirements, different local customs. Because Nicholas has administered estates in 25+ Illinois counties, he understands those variances and is able to guide clients through with fewer surprises.

Licensing, Qualifications, and Associations

Nicholas’s formal qualifications help enable and support his broad practice:

• Licensed in Illinois: Full authority to practice in all Illinois state courts.

• Federal Court (Northern District of Illinois): Able to represent litigants in federal matters arising in that district.

• U.S. Tax Court: Important when estate or trust issues involve tax disputes or interpretations at a national level.

• Bar Memberships: Member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association—modules that help him stay current with developments, ethical rules, and continuing legal education.

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In Conclusion

Nicholas P. Hoeft is more than just a litigator, more than just an estate planner, and more than a transactional lawyer—he is a comprehensive legal resource. His combination of:

• academic strength;

• extensional experience across many counties, courts, and forms of legal dispute;

• transactional finesse;

• tax and regulatory competence;

• and a personal, client-centered approach

positions him as an excellent choice for individuals, families, executors, trustees, those involved in business planning, or anyone needing legal counsel in the estate, probate, trust, or real estate arenas in Illinois.