A native Floridian and a lawyer in private practice for 22 years, Denise A. Welter, Esq., is celebrating going out on her own and the first anniversary of her Welter Law Office in the Cypress Glen Professional Park, just north of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel. Denise and her trusted paralegal Tara Ellis deliver top-tier legal services in estate planning, wills, trusts, probate and advanced healthcare directives.
“Tara is a great paralegal,” Denise says. “She is the point person that makes it all happen for me. She came with me when we launched a year ago and all of my clients love her.”
With 17 years as a legal secretary herself, Denise discovered her passion by chance after being let go by her employer of a decade, a turning point she describes as the “best worst thing that ever happened to me.” At the time, she was a busy mom of two young boys married to a firefighter.
She explains, “I only had a two-year degree then, and I had to decide if I would be satisfied with being a legal secretary for the rest of my life. Did I want to get a paralegal certification? I talked to my husband, and we decided I was going to go for it and go back to law school in my 30s. I buckled down and finished the rest of my Bachelor’s and law degrees in five and a half years.”
Denise obtained both her Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree, majoring in Legal Studies, and her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Nova Southeastern University, which is based in Ft. Lauderdale.
A member of the Florida Bar since 2002, Denise passed the examination on her first try. After assisting in another firm’s real estate department, she found her calling in estate planning and probate.
“I found my niche, and I’ve been doing it ever since,” she says.
Emphasizing the importance of wills and trusts, Denise highlights the role of these important legal documents in providing directions to the courts regarding asset distribution.
“I think that anyone at any age with any assets should, at minimum, have a will,” she says. “It tells the judge, ‘Here’s what I want to happen to my stuff when I die. Here’s who’s going to control everything for me, and here’s who’s getting it.’”
When someone passes away with assets solely in their name and without a designated beneficiary, their estate has to go through the court probate process before their assets reach their heirs. To bypass probate, Denise advises on the benefits of trust planning, which transfers assets into a trust, creating a separate legal entity that holds and manages them, ensuring a smooth transition to the deceased’s beneficiaries.
“With a trust, because you technically don’t own the asset at your death — the trust owns it — nothing has to go through the probate process,” she explains. “Most people do trusts to avoid probate and to protect their assets for their minor children.”
She also notes that when you have a trust, assets can be withheld for families with minor children, so they don’t receive everything at age 18. A trustee can pay their expenses and the distributions can occur later in their life. Leaving assets in a trust also protects those assets from creditors in a future bankruptcy, divorce, etc.
She says that trusts also are critical for families when naming guardians.
“If you (the parents) die, who do you want to raise your kids?,” she asks. “Do you want to pick them, or do you want a judge to pick them?” She asks.
She adds that trust planning serves as a preventive measure against court involvement and the necessity for guardianship in situations involving dementia or other illnesses that render individuals incapable of handling financial decisions.
“It avoids all of the potential pitfalls and still allows the elder to be taken care of by their own finances,” she explains. “Whenever we prepare a plan, typically the individual is the first trustee, but then it says if I cannot serve, whether incapacitated or I died, I appoint this person to be my successor trustee. I recommend having at least two (trustees).”
Denise provides a comprehensive binder to each of her trust clients, encouraging them to document family values, funeral preferences and account passwords, including those for cryptocurrency. She also stresses the significance of having a living will, which outlines preferences in situations of incapacity or terminal conditions.
“Two physicians — your primary and another physician — have determined that your death is imminent,” she says. “If all those things align, you don’t want to be prolonged heroically — including forced hydration and nutrition. You want to be able to pass without being kept alive with feeding tubes and IVs.”
Highlighting an often-overlooked scenario, Denise also suggests that parents of 18-year-olds heading to college should consider having healthcare surrogate designations, living wills, and powers of attorney to navigate potential HIPAA law challenges.
As an example, she shares a chilling, overlooked scenario: when an adult child is hospitalized, their parents are legally unable to get information from the hospital.
“We just went through Covid,” she says. “Your child could have been hospitalized with Covid. You can’t get there, and you can’t get any answers (on the phone).”
Denise also says that the most important skills she needs in this field are the ability to listen to what her clients’ want and expect and then putting together what they need for their family dynamic. For convenience, she offers both in-person meetings as well as online appointments throughout Florida for probate and estate planning.
“Clients can also email or call the office,” she says. “My clients have open access to be able to contact us in any way that’s convenient for them.”
Positive reviews, like Emilio H.’s on Google, commend the service provided by the Welter Law Office:
“My wife and I had an exceptional experience. Denise and Tara’s customer service was outstanding, showing a genuine compassion that is truly reassuring with such a sensitive topic. They paid meticulous attention to every detail with preparing our estate planning documents and provided fast, efficient service.”
Denise has much more than the mandatory three-year Florida Bar course requirements. She actively engages in continuous learning — attending seminars, reading, staying informed through Listservs (a Listserv is a way to communicate with a group of people over email. You subscribe to a topic and it’s almost like a newsletter of information) and connecting with fellow attorneys. Each year, she also orders an updated edition of the Florida Statutes. She is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys, The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, The Real Property Probate and Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar, Lawyers of Distinction, and Lead Council Verified.
Denise also sends digital follow-ups annually to inform her clients of any law changes and encourages them to review their estate plans every five years or during important life changes.
“The best part of our firm is helping families through sometimes very difficult situations and conversations,” she says. “Nobody likes to talk about death, but we provide peace of mind to clients, knowing their families or children are protected if something happens to them. On the probate side, we help families through sometimes tragic losses when they’re grieving, and it’s really hard to think clearly. We can help them navigate probate’s waters and simplify that for them.”
When not at her law office, Denise says she can be found at the beach with Bob, her high school sweetheart and husband of 40 years, visiting her sons Chris and Eric, playing with her three grand-daughters, Abbey, Amelia and Lillian (who she calls “my heart”), global and domestic traveling, or participating in a marriage communications weekend with United Marriage Encounters.
For more info about the Welter Law Office (2405 Creel Lane, Suite 102), call (850) 462-7509, visit WelterLawOffice.com.
