ABOUT US

After experiencing the turmoil of a family medical crisis without a plan in place, Louisville attorney Michelle Tupper Butler established Tupper Butler Law, PLLC, specifically to assist other families facing similar situations or wanting to prepare an estate plan designed for their family’s unique needs.

 

When Michelle’s active and healthy father was left a quadriplegic after a fall in his home, she assumed responsibility for his care while also balancing the demands of her legal career and family needs with two young children. Faced with the difficulty of navigating the complicated legal, financial, medical, and logistical issues facing families in the midst of a medical crisis, Michelle discovered there was a need for a comprehensive law firm to help families with legal and financial guidance, patient advocacy, and estate planning.

Michelle Butler, attorney and owner of Tupper Butler Law, practicing in Kentucky, Maryland and Washington, DC.

MICHELLE TUPPER BUTLER

Nearly 15 years of experience litigating on behalf of global and national companies facing significant and complicated legal claims led Michelle to establish Tupper Butler Law PLLC. She now focuses on families attempting to navigate or prepare for their inevitable mortality or a sudden medical crisis. In early 2017, Michelle’s advocacy work became personal when she assumed responsibility for her father’s care. He suffered a fall that caused a spinal cord injury and left him a quadriplegic — without any plan in place. With help from family and the newly discovered power of planning, Michelle’s father was able to thrive at home, maintaining a quality of life despite his disability and medical needs. Though he passed in 2020, Michelle ensured her father had a plan that made his wishes known so that when he died, she and her brother could be true to his love as a family, with confidence they were following their beloved father’s wishes. Now, Michelle offers her clients the benefits of her extensive legal expertise and personal knowledge of the drastic difference the power of planning can bring to life’s most difficult but unavoidable moments.
 
Michelle grew up in Louisville with her brother, together raised by their father after their mother passed away from cancer in 1993. A Ballard High School graduate, she next earned her Bachelor’s degree at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1996, before moving to New York City and basking in the adventure of city life. After six years serving as editor in nonfiction, Michelle completed law school back in D.C. at Georgetown University Law Center in 2005 and began her career litigating in private practice. After nearly ten years in private practice and a federal clerkship with the United States District Court in Washington, D.C., Michelle moved with her family back home to Louisville in 2013 and continued working in private practice.
 
After her father’s accident in February 2017, Michelle followed a calling to bring her zealous advocacy skills to the benefit of other families like her own. Tupper Butler Law PLLC is based in Louisville, though Michelle continues to practice in the state of Maryland and Washington, D.C.
 

At home, Michelle revels in her family – with her husband, Brandon, two small children, and dog, Buster. She managed her father’s care with her brother and enjoyed his ongoing ability to engage in life despite his disability. With the spare time that she nourishes with insistence, Michelle enjoys her book club (believing fervently that Frankenstein is the most important book ever written), lifting heavy things as exercise, and her newly adopted hobby and passion of fishkeeping.

Dr. E. Frank Tupper

DR. E. FRANK TUPPER

Dr. E. Frank Tupper was a renowned theologian, author, and teacher. He began his distinguished teaching career at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, teaching there for 23 years. In 1999, he became a founding faculty member at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity.

 

Dr. Tupper was ordained at Crescent Hill Baptist Church in Louisville in 1967 and served at various churches as pastor throughout his life. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Tupper focused on challenging the traditional understanding of providence in line with his personal understanding of God and his faith. “Life is arbitrary,” he posits, “God is not.”

 

Dr. Tupper was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Divinity at Wake Forest University, the author of The Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg and A Scandalous Providence: The Jesus Story of the Compassion of God, an old-school country music lover, and a loving grandfather. Dr. Tupper passed away in February 2020 while in the loving embrace of his family.

OUR STORY

Dr. E. Frank Tupper, my father, suffered a fall one February night that caused a catastrophic spinal injury with paralysis. We did not find him until the following afternoon, face down, unable to move but conscious. Up until that horrible day, my father had led an active life – he was a respected, well-known theologian and professor, as well as a dedicated family man who raised my brother and me by himself after our mother passed away in 1983. Suddenly, without any preparation, it was our turn to take care of him.

 

An ambulance took my dad to the trauma center at the University of Louisville Hospital, where emergency tests showed dangerous swelling of the cervical spinal cord – a result of tripping and landing face first, which snapped his head back, hyperextending the neck and shattering the material that held his spine together and protected the spinal cord. The pressure on the cord from the many hours of swelling caused the paralysis.

 

Though we had some good news that the injury did not completely sever the spinal cord, he needed risky emergency surgery to remove the material causing the swelling and pressure. The danger primarily involved the location of injury — that particular area of the spinal cord controls breathing and swallowing, so we were warned that he may not come off the ventilator after surgery.

 

The shock my brother and I experienced that night and in the days that followed was raw and terrifying. The initial surgery went well, and after some time, he was taken off the ventilator and could finally communicate with us again. But that was short-lived, as setback after setback required first the ventilator again and eventually a tracheotomy, which placed a tube through his neck into his lungs so he could breathe – an uncomfortable tube that remained in place for several weeks. After his stay in the ICU, my dad moved through the hospital to inpatient rehabilitation with spinal cord specialists for several months to continue recovering – and to allow us to put together a plan for his care and attempt to regain his life as a quadriplegic unable to do anything for himself despite a mind as sharp as ever.

 

Despite a law degree and intimate familiarity with the health care system, I had no idea what to do after my father’s injury. I had to assume responsibility for his care and advocate for him as a patient, manage his finances, and figure out where he could live when he was discharged – all while balancing my career, family with two small children, my own grief at this changed life, and my dad’s need for his daughter’s support. He did not have any instructions or plan in place, and nothing prepared my family or any family for this kind of injury. I had to learn quickly how to keep him alive and maximize his quality of life. Along the way, I met countless families facing similar traumatic illnesses or injuries to a loved one without available information on how to proceed, all while trying to deal with the emotional roller coaster of the situation. I found I  wanted to engage with these families professionally as well as personally, offering my years of experience as a lawyer and advocate and now with personal experience as a caregiver. So began my determination to open the doors of my own specialty law firm.

 

With Tupper Butler Law, I hope to turn what has been a difficult experience into an opportunity to provide counsel, advocacy, and guidance to other families and offer living proof that there is potential for great joy in everyday life despite the pain of the unexpected. My father, Dr. Tupper, continued to be an example of this for our family and an inspiration for me to help others.

 

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info@tupperbutlerlaw.com | (502) 631-1488