KELLY M. CROSS

The Honorable Kelly M. Cross graduated from the University of Louisville with a Bachelor’s in Accounting, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.  After receiving her M.B.A., Judge Cross returned to her father’s Alma Mater, St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, to receive her law degree.  After being admitted to the Texas State Bar, Judge Cross opened a general practice in downtown San Antonio.  During her early practice years, she became involved with families struggling with the issues associated with mental illness and incapacity.  Her involvement culminated in becoming certified in 2008 as a National Master Guardian.  Judge Cross has served as president of the San Antonio Bar Association’s Elder Law Section.  She was a founding member of the “Wills Clinic” which has served hundreds of low income citizens.  She is a Fellow at the San Antonio bar Foundation, a member of the National and Texas Guardianship associations, the San Antonio Bar Association, and the College of the State Bar of Texas, among many other professional and community organizations.  Additionally, since 2012, Judge Cross has participated in the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training Program, which teaches SAPD officers, Bexar County Sheriffs, paramedics, and other first responders how to interact with someone suffering from mental health disturbances, without violence.

For more than 22 years, Judge Cross has spoken at many seminars and conferences as an expert in the areas of elder law and guardianship law, encompassing subjects such as: grey collar crime, emergency guardianships and alternatives to guardianship, ethics of decision making for incapacitated adults, mental health powers of attorney, and many other topics.  After 20 plus years of experience as an advocate for the incapacitated, the elderly, and those suffering with mental illness, in January 2015, Judge Kelly Cross was sworn in as only the third person to serve as judge for Bexar County Probate Court 1.