Joshua Kaplan

I’m not sure where to start. After phone consultation I decided to use him as I wanted to get a trust set up quickly which he said he could do. I had concerns after reading negative reviews, and knowing he doesn’t take credit cards and I think may not have any employees receptionists paralegals etc.... but wasn’t sure as he was at home whenever we spoke, so maybe he does, I’m truthfully not sure. I put my gut feeling aside and the several reviews which stated he took money from people then wouldn’t reply, one review he admitted it was during Covid but never explained why he never gave the guy his money back though admitted he was out for a long time. I ignored that also. I left a retainer with Zelle ( which I’d never recommend anyone do) Monday early before workday and as he never gave me a time frame in writing, asked him about it to which he said about two weeks approximately. Then that was it. Monday passed and then Tuesday passed and no call from his office with a questionnaire or intake form that a lawyer would need to draft a trust. Then Wed passed and same thing, no contact again despite before being paid he said once he was paid he’d start it, Then I called as well as sent an email to which he didn’t reply and so left one review online and bingo, he replied to me. He said he was working on the trust with some online will I was playing around with to get a feel for what I wanted to say, which I don’t believe can be true because what kind of a lawyer would do that with something they were told was a rough idea of what I wanted and I had much other to add and subtract from it so I assumed he wanted to lay down reasons to keep the money by saying he was working on it ( without my filing any questionnaires of any kind , without telling me, without consulting me, and without sending me any proof of what he’d supposedly worked on. I wasn’t worried about the money, as I knew before hand how many people had made reviews that he took their money and never got back to them, it’s not a large amount and it was more worth it to me to be robbed of $2,000 and avoid a dishonest person of that’s what he turned out to be. I’d hoped he’d say he was busy, had other clients, had no staff, the days got away with him, anything like that so I could remove my review and finish the trust but no..instead said he was working on it but refused to show me what he did despite he’d been paid for it. Then lied in reply to my review saying he had no idea who I was. It was bizzare. Tonight he sent me a letter threatening to keep my retainer unless I remove my review despite it completely legal ( I study the first amendment) He called me disturbed and said everyone else who left him a review saying he took their money then ghosted them were all also disturbed and he also wanted me to promise to never leave any reviews and then he’d return my money. So here I am letting people know what he did and if possible will upload the letter he sent to me saying the above. Be aware it’s illegal for anyone to threaten someone to remove a review, and lawyers love to threaten people so don’t be bullied by dishonest people . You have a right and an obligation to let others know what your truthful experience was and help others avoid shady business practices and people . Needless to say I didn’t remove my review and am here making another one as I hope for others to avoid the trouble I went through and list $2150 now which I don’t mind but to others that may be a lot of money do be careful ..the reviewers are not disturbed, they’re telling their experience and so am o and I hope it helps others.