A Return to Where it all Began

Colette Kellerhouse is happy to have found a professional home in the community that became her actual home more than 20 years ago. 

The 1997 Lely High School graduate is a partner in the Marco Island law firm Kramer Kellerhouse, Chartered. Her family moved to Marco from upstate New York when she was 14. After finishing college at the University of Miami in 2001, she spent a decade as a civil litigation paralegal with a Naples law firm. She also attended the Ave Maria University School of Law, receiving her law degree in 2013. 

Kellerhouse opened her own law office in Naples in 2017. However, she jumped at a chance to form a partnership with longtime Marco attorney Fred Kramer, which came into being in February of 2021. It was a case of coming full circle because she’d interned with Kramer’s office as a high school student. 

She’s been enjoying the move in a multitude of ways, including where professional growth is concerned. 

“He offered me the opportunity to come back to my roots and to get involved in more expansive areas of practice,” Kellerhouse said about Kramer. “I’ve been doing more real estate transaction work than I ever had. It’s great. I love it. I love dealing with the people. For me, just getting to associate with different people and learn the real estate market on the island has been great.

“The main reason that I joined forces with Fred is I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as an attorney and as a person,” she added. “He is an incredible attorney and a great mentor. He’s got a very good reputation in the community for good reason.”

Kellerhouse still has family on Marco. Her mother, Priscilla Kellerhouse, is a realtor with Premier Sotheby's International Realty’s Marco office and her sister, Jade Purcell, also lives here. Kellerhouse lives off-island and said getting reacquainted with the community has been an interesting process. 

“There are still so many people here from when I grew up and that I went to high school with and were family friends,” she explained. “But at some point, it’s become a much more diverse and populated island. So, I don’t know as many people as I’d like, so I’m trying to get out to different events and meet more people and make my presence known here.”

She described Kramer Kellerhouse, Chartered, as a “general practice” law firm that handles, aside from real estate matters, civil litigation, family law, estate planning and probate work, business formation and more. 

“If we don’t handle a particular area of law, we know so many attorneys in this area that we can refer out to who are known and trusted colleagues of ours,” said Kellerhouse.

Her practice is focused on general civil litigation and family law. Fluency in Spanish - it was one of her two minors as an undergrad - enables her to assist Hispanic clients in their native language. 

Kellerhouse’s interest in law began when she was around 10. The catalyst was a book that sat on her mother’s desk at the New York state construction company her parents owned. 

“I remember it very well,” she said. “It had a red cover and it said ‘Legalese’ on the front. It was a layman’s guide to legal terms that I guess they picked up for themselves to use as a reference in doing business. That really is what sparked my interest. So, I started paying a little more attention to the field of law and the different avenues I might eventually pursue.”

In the end, she was driven by her heart and not just her head. 

“My primary motivation in pursuing law has always been to help people, “whether it’s helping a family get through a tough time with a divorce or helping complete a real estate transaction or helping put a business plan together to help people move forward with their dreams,” said Kellerhouse. “Those are things that have always been at the forefront for me, as well as making sure that small businesses and the community have effective legal representation.” 

She is a volunteer with the Legal Aid Society of Collier County and received the Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for her representation of victims of domestic violence. 

It’s no exaggeration to say that Kellerhouse loves her job. 

“You hear about those people who wake up in the morning and say, ‘Oh I hate going to work. I don’t want to do this anymore?’ I never feel like that,” she said. “I feel like it’s always a new adventure. Every day I get up and I have new clients coming in, new challenges and legal issues coming up.”

The Marco Island office of Kramer Kellerhouse, Chartered is located at 950 North Collier Boulevard, Suite 101. For more information, visit marcoislandlaw.com or call 239-394-3900.