Melinda Sue Eggert
Sue is a senior paralegal supervisor who has lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1980 and has worked in the legal field since 1980. Sue previously worked as a legal assistant and paralegal at Holland & Knight and Hill Ward Henderson, two large Tampa-based law firms. She has focused on adoption since 1993 and has been Jeanne’s “right hand” since the inception of the firm with an unsurpassable dedication to her career and the clients we serve.
Sue is primarily responsible for termination of parental rights proceedings, contested matters, and training law firm and agency personnel. Sue has been heavily involved in some of the most significant adoption cases in Florida and has participated in over a thousand adoptions. She is married, has an adult son and daughter, and is enjoying her five grandchildren.
Daneille Stewart
Daneille joined the firm in 2002 and is a paralegal who works in the Naples office, handling the needs of our clients in Southwest Florida. Daneille has been working in the legal system since 1983 and received her paralegal certificate of completion from Florida International University in 1986. She received her Certified Legal Assistant (CLA) status in 1987 from the National Association of Legal Assistants and in 1988 from the Florida Association of Legal Assistants. Daneille is also a Florida Registered Paralegal.
Daneille received an Associate in Arts Degree in Criminology from Edison Community College in 1996 and received a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Criminology from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2006. Daneille is an associate member of the Collier County Bar Association. Daneille was a founding member of the Adoption Task Force of Southwest Florida, Inc. (ATFSF) and held numerous officer positions of the organization over the years. She has been featured in Florida Legal Assistant Today and the Naples Daily News. Daneille is married with three children, all of whom are adopted, and is a licensed foster parent.
Meredith Moore
Meredith joined the firm in 2021 as a Paralegal in the Tampa office. She is primarily responsible for termination of parental rights cases, contested adoptions involving older children, interventions, and relative/step-parent adoption proceedings. With some paralegal experience at a small civil law firm in Tampa, Meredith joins our staff with an abundance of skills empowering the forces behind our dedicated attorneys and distinguished firm!
Meredith attended Central Michigan University where she earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Sport Management & Legal Studies in 2018 and a Master of Science in Administration degree in 2020 – while concurrently serving on staff with the Athletic Compliance Department working with domestic and international student-athletes at CMU. Meredith previously relocated to Florida from Los Angeles, California where she worked in Division 1 NCAA Compliance. She aims to further her educational endeavors by attending Law School and earning her Juris Doctorate.
Annsley Van Buskirk
Annsley joined the law firm in January 2023 as a Paralegal in the Tampa office. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. She began her career in adoptions as an agency caseworker in 2003. Over the years, she has handled thousands of adoptions and assisted many expectant parents as they created their adoption plans. She has also worked with adoptive parents, as they prepared to adopt and provided them with post-placement support. Annsley has now switched gears to assist clients from the legal side of the adoption process and brings with her extensive knowledge and experience. She is married with one child and is also a licensed foster parent and volunteer Guardian ad Litem.
Lisa M. Weiskopf
Lisa was with the Tampa office of Tate Healey Webster for over 18 years as a paralegal responsible for stepparent, relative, second parent, adult, older child adoptions, name changes, terminations of parental rights and adoption finalizations. In May 2019, she returned as a paralegal/administrative assistant and paralegal liaison. As a paralegal, she is responsible for working in the area of surrogacy and finalization of adoptions, and the liaison to the other paralegals in the Orlando and Naples offices.
Kristin Petersen
Kristin joined Jeanne T. Tate P.A. in February 2020 as the Accounting and Executive Assistant. Kristin graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She brings over ten years of administrative experience to our team. As an adoptive parent of two wonderful sons, Kristin is passionate about adoption and loves her role with the Firm.
James Taylor
James Taylor joined the firm in June 2017 as the in-house IT support technician. James now acts as the Director of IT & Security. James’ primary duties include handling all aspects of being the Administrator for Office 365, our server, website, and systems.
In addition, he is the liaison between our adoption agency and our legal team for all this technology related. He is responsible for hardware and software-related issues.