Good Neighbor Podcast: Fort Collins

A Grandfather’s Lost Farm Inspired A Career Defending Landowners And Guiding Clients Through Bankruptcy

• Nick George • Season 1 • Episode 129

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A lost farm, an oil rig where a home once stood, and a promise to protect families from ever facing that kind of surprise again—this conversation with attorney Jillian Hishaw is a masterclass in turning hardship into service. We sit down with the founder of Hishaw Law to unpack the real-world tools that help people keep their homes, preserve their vehicles, and reset crushing debt without losing everything. If you’ve ever believed bankruptcy means surrender, Jillian’s clarity on exemptions, trustee roles, and homestead protections will change your mind.

Jillian bridges bankruptcy, estate planning, and agricultural law with a rare blend of expertise and empathy. She explains how medical bills, old leases, and credit card balances spiral into lawsuits and how Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 can offer a path back to stability. We get specific about homestead equity limits, vehicle protections, and strategies that let families stay housed while addressing debt. The conversation also moves beyond balance sheets into timing—how creating a simple, durable estate plan before a health crisis can shield assets and reduce stress. For seniors and those nearing retirement, Jillian’s guidance on Medicaid planning and nursing home liens is a practical roadmap to protect what matters.

Rooted in her grandfather’s story and sharpened by decades serving farmers and ranchers, Jillian brings an agricultural lens to modern risks. She shares insights from her award-winning book, The ABCs of Agriculture, Blockchain and Crypto, revealing how data centers and crypto operations can reshape rural communities. From water and power demands to easements and long-term contracts, she offers questions every landowner should ask before signing. With resources spanning social media education, dedicated websites, and nonprofit outreach, Jillian’s mission is simple: inform people early so they can choose wisely.

If you care about keeping your home, planning your legacy, or safeguarding rural land from short-sighted deals, this episode delivers clear, plain-English guidance you can use today. Listen, share with someone who needs hope and direction, and join us in building a more financially resilient community. Subscribe for more neighbor-powered stories, and leave a review to help others find the show.

SPEAKER_01:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Nick George.

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I have the great pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Gillian Highshaw of Highshaw Law. Gillian, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, great, great. How are you? Thanks again, Mr. George, for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for being here. We love having you on. We'd love to hear all about High Shaw Law and how it came into existence and what you focus on.

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. So I focus on bankruptcy and estate planning along with agricultural law. So my legal master's is in ag law. And so I run a nonprofit and my law practice at the same time.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow. That's that's interesting. And who are your donors?

SPEAKER_00:

Um mainly like grocery stores. So I've uh gotten donations from Whole Foods, Bilo, Allstate, New York Life, just various foundations and things. So yeah, that's been in operation for 12 years, and the law practice has been in operation for 10.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful. And what made you get into this business? Or practice?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, my grandfather, um, he was raised on a farm in Oklahoma, 160 acres in Muscogee. And when he relocated from Kansas City, which is where I'm born and raised, uh, he hired a lawyer to pay the property tax, but the lawyer stole the money and the land was sold in a tax lien sale without notice being given to my papa. So where his house used to be, there was an oil, oil rig there. And so I went to law school at University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and I got my LM, my legal master's in ag law, and I've been offering free legal services to farmers, particularly aging farmers and ranchers, for the past 20 years.

SPEAKER_02:

That is beautiful. What are some myths or misconceptions in your particular niche of the legal industry?

SPEAKER_00:

Um well, every time I tell somebody, which I I don't um at times, that I'm an attorney, they think that I know all of the answers to like their legal questions. And they think, oh, you know, an attorney is a general practitioner, and so you know, it's always child support or alimony questions or criminal. And I don't really do either. So um I'm like, oh, you know, so that's usually a generality, and then that attorneys are rich, which you know, doing the whole nonprofit thing, I'm I'm definitely, you know, not rich.

SPEAKER_02:

So thanks for dispelling that. Yeah, yeah. Um so um who who is your target client and how are you reaching out to them now digitally?

SPEAKER_00:

So through the law practice, it's primarily people that are um facing financial stress and strain. So people who have a lot of medical debt, credit card debt, um, past repossessions, old rental lease agreements, personal loans, those are the people that I'm reaching out to. And then also people that really want to get their affairs in order regarding simple estate plan before they have to qualify for Medicaid and Medicare.

SPEAKER_02:

That's awesome. How are you reaching out to them digitally? Is it through social media or some other form of advertising?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, sir. Through social media. So we I have a TikTok uh page for Highshaw Law, and then of course I have my website. So I have highshawlaw.com, and then I have a few more other websites, Medicaid Property.com, which specifically focuses on educating seniors and people that are in um their 50s uh about Medicaid and how to protect their assets from a nursing home lien.

SPEAKER_02:

For those of you out there that don't know how to spell High Shaw, it's H-I-S-H-A-W. Jillian, how um have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

SPEAKER_00:

No, not all. Not not at all.

SPEAKER_02:

Because you mentioned that you you like to educate people, and uh this is one way that people tune in now to almost a word-of-mouth type attraction.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah, I I've I used to do a lot of podcast interviews, but now I've just published a lot of books. So I have about nine, nine different books. So this is the latest book that I just published in February. It just won the um NYC Big Book Award contest last month, and it's educating property owners, particularly landowners and farmers, about blockchain and crypto and how to protect their natural resources from um data centers.

SPEAKER_02:

Could you say the title of that book out loud?

SPEAKER_00:

Sure. The ABCs of agriculture, blockchain and crypto. And it's available on my website at highshalaw.com.

SPEAKER_02:

That's awesome. Well, uh, Jillian, do you uh I guess you told us where to find you on on all the social medias. What do you want to be the big takeaway from this interview uh for listeners that find you um through searching?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, so definitely don't despair if you are facing financial woes and challenges. And if you file bankruptcy, you won't, they the trustee won't take all of your property. That is a myth because there's certain things as exemptions. So as long, for example, in Wyoming, which is where I practice, as long as you have less than 100K in equity, if you're single, 200K, if it's joint, then your home is saved. And even if you have over that amount, there's ways to sort of you know strip that cat so that you can still stay in your home. And then also if you own one or two cars, definitely, you know, the value can be as low as 4,000 and you're still able to keep your cars.

SPEAKER_02:

So very interesting.

unknown:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, Jillian, we uh we we really appreciate you being on the show, and we we hope the best for High Shaw Law and you moving forward.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, thank you so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gmpfortcollins.com. That's gmpfortcollins.com or call nine seven zero four three eight zero eight two five.