Judge Sullivan received her BS degree from Iowa State University located in Ames, Iowa in 1981 and shortly thereafter moved to the Houston area. She worked as a Division Order Analyst for Scurlock Oil Company and Scurlock-Permian Oil Company in Houston prior to attending South Texas College of Law.

Upon graduation from law school in 2000, she became the Court Investigator for the Galveston County Probate Court. As the investigator, she began the first Court Visitor program involving nursing students from UTMB of Galveston, and other area colleges. Four years later she took an oath becoming an assistant district attorney for the Galveston County DA, where she acquired extensive trial experience. In 2006 she went into private practice where she was head of the probate department and responsible for all probate litigation.

Judge Sullivan was elected as judge of the Galveston County Probate Court in November 2010, and took her oath of office in January 2011. Judge Sullivan recently wrote legislation that became effective September 1, 2011 wherein probate fees will be waived for Police Officers, Firefighters, and other officials killed in the line of duty. For her efforts, Judge Sullivan was presented with the “Good Citizen Award” from the C.L.E.A.T Police Officers Memorial Foundation, “For Advocating on Behalf of Surviving Families of Fallen Officers in Texas.”