Samantha Zanger Smith

If you are a man with an irrational ex who will say or do anything to make you look bad, do not use this attorney for custody and/or eviction issues. Use a man, and make sure they’re aggressive when it’s necessary to push back on crazy. This lawyer will side with your ex if their lies and actions a...re believable enough and you don’t. This attorney did not completely inform me of my own rights and other critical information until later on in this process and only after a face-to-face meeting, and only after I needlessly spent over $5,000 because I was too trusting. In fact, now that this is all behind me, I can see that this attorney must have intentionally withheld information in order to drag the process out by not telling me what all of my rights were, and not until I asked point blank in a meeting about specific court processes and how they would play out in my situation. Yeah, I messed up because I trusted this attorney to be forthright and to always look out for my best interests. They weren’t. Second, this attorney kept making the same repeated spelling mistakes with my name on court paperwork, three times in total, even after pointing it out every time. Would that make you feel more or less confident? I learned a valuable lesson here, although it had a really steep price. Never use a female lawyer for custody/eviction issues. Don’t assume your attorney always has your back, so verify it by asking a lot of questions at the beginning, and often during the process. It’s expensive and it’s YOUR HARD EARNED money, so don’t back down, especially if your ex is a practiced liar and/or can’t be rationalized with on an adult level. Or is the type that doesn’t respect or understand personal boundaries and should be on the Jerry Springer show. I felt strongly enough about my experience with this attorney that I relayed this same information to the law firm that originally recommended her to me. Not out of spite, but as a warning to other men in a similar situation.