When Luis Perez was going through an acrimonious separation from his wife, he hired a divorce lawyer who sounded great — a guy who advertised that he helps men in Luis’ situation. Quickly, though, Luis realized that the lawyer was not going to be a good fit for him.
“He was young and arrogant and didn’t give me the attention I needed,” Luis says. “I had a lot of questions and I was trying to figure out my life, and it took this guy two or three days to return a phone call. He was always in court. He was always too busy.”
Luis was traveling home from a business conference when he met attorney Cela Webster of Chapel Legal, in the Tampa Palms Professional Center (off Commerce Palms Blvd.) on a plane. She was friendly and introduced herself as a family law attorney. She handed him a business card and told him to be in touch if he ever needed anything. He says it was a moment of fate, with her knowing nothing about his personal issues.
But, a couple months after that flight, Luis remembered how kind she was on the plane. He had decided to fire his unresponsive attorney, so he reached out to Cela.
He says that’s when everything changed.
“She cared enough to listen to me for a half an hour while I told her everything that was going on,” says Luis. “She was very professional and knowledgeable. I was afraid I was going to lose everything, but she made me feel so comfortable and confident. She gave me a vision.”
He says it took nine months for the divorce to be finalized. During that time, he says Cela became his adviser, his counselor and an amazing friend. “Every question I had, she would answer,” he says. “She really cares.”
Luis says she didn’t always tell him what he wanted to hear, but, “she predicted almost to the T exactly how it was all going to play out.”
Cela’s expertise helped him get what was most important to him out of the divorce. He says the law changed and allowed him to have joint custody of his son. He says if he would have filed for divorce before the law changed, he would have lost his rights. That’s information Cela knew, but his previous attorney somehow never mentioned.
Cela says she treats all of her clients with that kind of “white glove” service.
“I’m going to call you back, respond to you and know you by your first and last name,” says Cela. “You’re not just a number to me. I don’t take every client because I like to serve my clients with excellence.”
She opened Chapel Legal nearly two years ago, after two decades of work as an attorney in both Florida and New York.
First, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of South Florida and her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the Syracuse University College of Law in Syracuse, NY, in 2000.
She started in family law, working for legal aid and serving as an attorney in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. She also served as Chief of Staff for a judge within that district, learning the ins and outs behind the scenes and writing legal opinions.
In 2015, she and her husband, Matt, moved their family to Wesley Chapel, near Cela’s hometown of Temple Terrace. Their son Jack graduated from Wiregrass Ranch High in 2023 and now attends the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY. Their daughter Eliana is 17 and their son Nathan is 13.
Upon her return to the Tampa Bay area, Cela went to work for Bay Area Legal Services. Looking for a change of pace, she then served as general counsel for Hernando County for three years. With her wide variety of experience, she says, “I’ve worked on every kind of case on the planet.”
These days, she is focused on helping families with custody arrangements for children, or modifying arrangements that have already been made. She helps with divorces, adoptions and other family matters, as well.
Wills, Estate & Probate Services
Chapel Legal also helps people create a will, designate a healthcare surrogate, set up a power of attorney or guardianship and other important areas of estate planning.
She has recently added probate to the services available to her clients. This is a court-supervised process for identifying and gathering the assets of a deceased person, paying off their debts and distributing assets to their beneficiaries.
“One of the key things people don’t know or appreciate is that their estate planning documents are living documents that move with you through life,” she says. “You have to keep updating them.”
For example, she says you need to change them when you get married, when you get a new job, when you leave a job, if someone in your family passes away, or anytime there’s an important change in your life situation.
And, Cela says, it’s also important to do it before you actually need to do it.
“It’s never too early,” she says.
As the mom of a West Point cadet, she also offers her support to members of the military and first responders. She will prepare estate planning documents for any student at any miliary academy for free.
“I’ll take care of you,” she says. “I donate my time and my paralegal donates her time.”
She says for cadets, who are typically right out of high school, these documents are essential — just like for everyone their age.
Many parents don’t realize that once their child turns 18, they no longer have the right to help them if something happens to that adult child, unless that child has listed them on a power of attorney document.
So, for example, if an 18-year-old becomes incapacitated in a car accident, their parents have no right to make medical decisions for them, unless the appropriate documents are in place.
She can help families determine what documents they need to protect them in many different situations.
Cela also donates her time to the Hillsborough County Bar Association “Wills for Heroes” program, offering free wills, health care advance directives and durable powers of attorney to local first responders.
She also is a board member with the Tampa Hispanic Bar Association and is excited to give back to students as part of the committee that raises money for scholarships.
“My number one goal is to help people,” Cela says. “Whether I’m working in public service or federal court, it’s always about serving people.”
Cela is licensed to practice in both New York and Florida, but she is fully focused on serving families and individuals in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel areas.
While many attorneys don’t offer a free consultation, Cela says it’s important to her that people have an opportunity to ask her questions before they determine whether or not to hire her.
And, as a native Spanish speaker, Cela is happy to work with people who only speak Spanish or who prefer to communicate about the sometimes complicated issues of family law in their native language.
Her client Luis says that after working with Cela, he’s convinced she’s the best attorney in Tampa and may be the best attorney you’ll find anywhere.
“I had to experience a terrible attorney to really appreciate her,” he says. “But, her dedication, attention to detail and her love for her craft is undeniable.”
Chapel Legal is located at 17425 Bridge Hill Ct., Suite 202. If you need help with family law, estate planning or probate, Chapel Legal attorney Cela Webster offers a free phone consultation. For more information, visit ChapelLegal.com or call (813) 524- 6393.
