It’s been six months since Elizabeth Devolder launched the Law Office of Elizabeth Devolder, a boutique firm located in the Tampa Palms Professional Center off the Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. exit of I-75 in New Tampa.
Her divorce from attorney Bryan Devolder, with whom she launched the Devolder Law Firm in 2016, was finalized in December, and Elizabeth began a new journey in her new solo practice in January 2021.
Elizabeth’s new firm handles estate planning and probate matters, the same areas of law she handled as a partner at the previous practice.
“Ultimately, we’re doing the same things,” she explains. “We’re just doing them separately.”
Elizabeth says her new practice has started strong. “I have been very well supported through referrals over the last six months from people in the community.”
Elizabeth earned her law degree at the Tampa campus of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Riverview in 2016 after a successful career in advertising and sales management. She had previously earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Corporate Communications from the College of Charleston, in South Carolina, in 1997.
The Law Office of Elizabeth Devolder’s case manager is Rachael Alexander, who has worked with Elizabeth for the last four years and helped found the new firm. Rachael recently graduated from law school herself and passed the Florida bar exam.
“The firm is already growing,” Elizabeth explains. “With Rachael, you’ll get a very experienced case manager, and we’re currently expanding to also have a legal assistant.”
Elizabeth specializes in helping people get their affairs in order, whether they have recently moved to the state, have a child who just turned 18, need legal advice for long-term care, and many other situations.
She says her services are valuable for everyone.
“Everyone needs a Power of Attorney document to manage (their) financial and practical affairs if they’re ever incapacitated,” she says.
This even applies to young adults, who often think they don’t need estate planning because they don’t yet have an “estate” of their own.
“Even if you have nothing,” says Elizabeth, “you still want to make sure someone has the authority to care for you if something happens (to you).”
If a young adult becomes incapacitated, they need someone to be able to tell companies to stop withdrawing money from their account or stop billing them for services, for example. Companies have a responsibility to protect their customer’s privacy, so Power of Attorney documents are required. Records and decisions about medical care don’t automatically go to a parent once a child turns 18.
“It’s so much more expensive if you don’t have these documents in place,” says Elizabeth.
She also says she has loved living in Florida, since a corporate relocation brought her here in 2006. Her experience and eye for detail means she understands what families need to do to update their estate planning documents to respond to and take advantage of Florida laws.
Elizabeth also is developing a specialty helping artists to protect their legacies and collectors to protect their collections.
For example, she says, what happens if an artist puts art in a gallery and the gallery closes? Can the creditor take the artwork? Or, what happens if you collect art and antiques and leave them to someone who doesn’t recognize the value of these keepsakes? How do you protect the art from “walking off” during a period of incapacity? How do you maximize the value of it and make it more valuable?
“There are a lot of issues with art,” says Elizabeth, “but not a lot of art lawyers.”
Her thoughtful questions have led one of her clients, local artist Mishou Sanchez, to think about things she’s never considered and take actions to protect her body of work.
“I’ve been working with Elizabeth for years now,” says Mishou, “and she’s fantastic, charming, and knowledgeable about navigating this almost uncharted territory of art law.”
Mishou says her art is now included in her estate plan and Elizabeth has helped her to consider new and interesting ideas, especially related to ownership, copyright and social media.
“She’s really smart,” says Mishou, “It’s kind of fantastic to deal with an educated and knowledgeable woman in the industry.”
Elizabeth also helps artists and others understand their digital assets.
“I got interested in that because I have a client who is making a lot of money off of online instructional videos,” Elizabeth says. “The terms of service for the website say his account is cancelled at his death, but a new law was enacted in 2016 that would allow someone to override the terms, if those are written into his (or her) estate planning documents.”
She says this also could include online photos or statements that come to email.
“If you need to get into the iPhone of someone who has passed away, for example, you need special language in your power of attorney and in your will to give very specific authority for that,” she says. “The process has only been in existence since 2016, so if your will is from before 2016, you need to update it to include that language.”
Elizabeth wants the families she helps to be sure their heirs know what they have and how to get it. For electronic content, she says the family needs access to the catalog (or list) of emails, the content of those emails, and to their loved one’s device so they can get information during incapacity or after death.
She also helps clients with asset protection when they’re facing long-term care costs, and serves clients who have assets in bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and non-fundable tokens (NFTs).
“There’s a whole new way to make money that we haven’t considered before,” she says, “and it’s important to consider those things in your estate.”
The Law Office of Elizabeth Devolder is located at 5383 Primrose Lake Circle, Suite C, in the Tampa Palms Professional Center. It’s open Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m. For more information or to make an appointment, call (813) 319-4550 or visit ElizabethDevolderLaw.com.
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