Joseph M. Spratt

I had a consultation with this lawyer that lasted 30 minutes. I was charged the full fee and told within the first 10 minutes he would not represent me in a very clear cut case we could have easily won. He just seemed more interested in talking about local politics. My ex is in rehab and clearly a ne...glectful parent. He is a danger to our child. The delay in filing an emergency petition for custody exposed our child to even more abuse and neglect. I would avoid this lawyer at all costs.

I am a resident of PA currently serving in the USMC. While on recruiting duty in western PA I became seperated and eventually filed for a divorce. I originally had hired Cordell&Cordell but was unable to pay the very high fees that they charge. So after making a call to the Beaver Co. Bar Ass. the...y put me in tough with Joseph Spratt. The first meeting went well enough and he is a nice guy and was not going to nickel and dime me the way the big law firm had been. So I hired him this was around August of 2010, this a few months before the required seperation period to proceed with a divorce in PA. Our "plan" was to have the necessary documents ready to file with the court as soon as the deadline hit in October of that year. This is where my troubles with this guy began. It was always 2 more weeks or something came up and we were somehow delayed. Now over the years serving in the Marines I have learned to be patient but mind you I was paying a hefty sum of money in spousal support monthly on top of child support. 2011 came and we were supposed to get things rolling after the holiday season was over as the court was supposedly back logged. Being a recruiter at the time I was extremely busy and could not check up on the courts "back log" spring came and went. Then it became increasingly more and more difficult to get a hold of Mr. Spratt, summer came still no progress. It was also during this time he failed to appear with me for an adjustment hearing on my child/spousal support. I was nearing the end of my tour on recruiting duty and had orders to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. I expressed my desire to get this all done and over with before i executed orders, however nothing was accomplished. I was actually over paying him at the time to stay ahead of the curve mind you. I executed my orders in Nov of 2011 still no closer to being divorced. Now I'm 12 hours drive away and back to my normal job as an infantry unit leader. You'd think that i could trust a professional to get something done, I dont have much in the way of money or assets or anything else for that matter this all should have been relatively easy. By this time I was pending a combat deployment to Afganistan, still nothing. Before I deployed I made a trip all the way back to PA to see this guy face to face, I paid more money. This man apoligized for all the delays and PROMISED to have this all done before Christmas of that year. I departed for Afganistan in October of 2012 three years of seperation and paying tens of thousands of dollars in spousal support all the while. It seemed that he was doing what was required. But when he needed something he never told me or the people i had helping me at home I had to find out when I called back to the states. Christmas came and went still NOT DIVORCED. Well I got bills from him but not results. My patience finally ran out in Feb of 2013 and I hired Bruce Dice out of Plum, PA on the recommendation of a close friend. Maybe the third times the charm with Lawyers. In my line of work if I performed like this we would have lost Marines. Dont wast your hard earned dollars on this guy, I gave him every possible benefit of the doubt and then some. He just does not deliver not even a little bit.